Sherlock Holmes (1965 TV series)
| Sherlock Holmes | |
|---|---|
| Starring |
Douglas Wilmer Peter Cushing |
| Composer(s) | Max Harris |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 29 Episode list |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
William Sterling David Goddard |
| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Original release | 1965 – 1968 |
Sherlock Holmes (alternatively Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes) is a series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company BBC between 1965 and 1968. This was the second screen adaption of Sherlock Holmes for BBC Television.
In 1964, the BBC secured rights to adapt any five Sherlock Holmes stories with an option for a further eight from the Doyle estate. A handful of Doyle's stories were excluded from the deal: The Hound of the Baskervilles because Hammer Films' rights would not expire until 1965 following their 1959 film adaptation, and "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House" which had been secured by producers of the Broadway musical Baker Street.
In 1964, an adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was commissioned as a pilot for a twelve part series of Sherlock Holmes stories.Giles Cooper penned the adaptation and Douglas Wilmer was cast as Holmes and as Watson, with Felix Felton as Dr. Grimesby Roylott.
The hour-long pilot was aired as an episode of Detective on 18 May and was popular enough to re-air on 25 September. Wilmer and Stock were secured for a twelve part black-and-white series to air the following year.
Wilmer was a lifelong fan of Doyle's stories and looked forward to portraying the legendary sleuth.
The part interested me very much because I’d never really, I felt, seen it performed to its full capacity. There’s a very dark side to Holmes, and a very unpleasant side to him. And I felt that this was always skirted round which made him appear rather sort of hockey sticks and cricket bats and jolly uncles… a kind of dashing Victorian hero. He wasn’t like that at all. He was rather sardonic and arrogant, and he could be totally inconsiderate towards Watson. I tried to show both sides of his nature.
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