Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery

Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery
GenreCrime
Mystery
Written byKingsley Amis
Directed byJames Cellan Jones
StarringEdward Fox
Elaine Taylor
Christopher Cazenove
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerMark Shivas
Running time70 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC
Release27 December 1974 (1974-12-27)

Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery is a 1974 British made-for-television mystery film directed by James Cellan Jones and starring Edward Fox as Doctor Watson.[1]

Plot

While Sherlock Holmes is away on holiday, Watson journeys to Darkwater Hall in the Cotswolds to protect a woman's husband from harm.

Cast

Production

Filmed at Stow-on-the-Wold,[2] Watson was portrayed as competent and intelligent[2] as opposed to the popular idea of a bumbling character as Nigel Bruce portrayed him in an earlier series of fourteen films. He is also portrayed as a virile womanizer as the character claims to be in The Sign of the Four.[1][3]

The film references A Study in Scarlet, "The Adventure of Black Peter", "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band".[4] Fox would go on to play the character of Alistair Ross in another Sherlock Holmes pastiche, The Crucifer of Blood.[4]

Reception

According to author Kingsley Amis, "the reviews were excellent."[2] Alan Barnes calls the film "part-deconstruction, part-parody of Doyle" that "ends up resembling a long drawn-out shaggy dog story."[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Bunson, Matthew (1997). Encyclopedia Sherlockiana. Simon & Schuster. p. 67. ISBN 0-02-861679-0.
  2. ^ a b c Haining, Peter (1994). The Television Sherlock Holmes. Virgin Books. p. 72. ISBN 0-86369-793-3.
  3. ^ Eyles, Allen (1986). Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration. Harper & Row. p. 122. ISBN 0-06-015620-1.
  4. ^ a b c Barnes, Alan (2011). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Titan Books. pp. 54–56. ISBN 9780857687760.


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