martin-intercultural For us Anglophile viewers, this series would have been superb even if the cast had just dutifully recited their lines and tried to look pretty. For this is unrivaled period costume drama, with exteriors and interiors that sometimes make me pause the picture every five seconds, just to take in the Victorian visual cornucopia in all its fine detail. But the series is so much more than that: Jeremy Brett's Sherlock is imbued with such depth, subtlety, color and nuance, the crime story becomes a symphony - a rumination on life, fate, betrayal, companionship, surrendering one's youth, and many other things. This embodiment of Sherlock is not just the moody and eccentric character we grew up to know, playing a violin in between racking his brains. He is a choleric, a mystic, a philosopher, a scientist, even a psychic and occultist when the occasion calls for it, and quite possibly a mason and a homosexual; a man living by his own rules. The 'whodunit?' element thus refreshingly doesn't dominate the story; it is the central character's unpredictable actions and interactions that steal the show. Wonderful viewing.

Bala I am a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works and came across "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" quite by accident. What immediately struck my attention was how good the characters were portrayed - Jeremy Brett has delivered an outstanding depiction of the famous sleuth. The location settings takes you back to the time when the events were supposed to have happened with almost every little detail intact.I only wish the filming was done for all the stories in the Sherlock Holmes series (some of the cases in the book were not filmed). I have also watched Hercule Poirot series(another of my favorite), but i felt that the reproduction was not as good as Sherlock Holmes. All in all, this is a must watch for every SH fan.

TheLittleSongbird I cannot praise this masterpiece of a series enough. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it whatsoever. In fact every one of the Sherlock Holmes are superb, but this is the definitive one.The plots are in general true to the books, which are just as excellent, save a couple of wholly forgivable liberties. The scripts are sharp, classy and sophisticated, and all the adaptations have a certain atmosphere to them, and that is exactly what I want. The music is just outstanding, not only beautiful but very haunting, and the background music is rich and just adds to the atmosphere of the series. And the scenery, camera work and costumes are flawless.As for the acting, one word, superlative. Jeremy Brett is without doubt the best Sherlock Holmes ever, he is just perfect as the character. He is true to the character of the books, while making some subtle differences along the way. This is all to do with interpretation, and where I am concerned, this is one masterful interpretation of a truly complex character. David Burke is suitably intelligent as Watson; while I am more familiar with Edward Hardwicke, Burke is just as good. Many great actors and actresses have come and given memorable appearances, and I cannot decide who impressed me most, because they were all great.All in all, an absolute must-see. It is a television masterpiece. 10/10 Bethany Cox

MartinHafer I have reviewed a ton of Sherlock Holmes films over the years since I am a huge fan of the original Conan Doyle stories. However, despite enjoying these films, I must admit that the many movies up until "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" have really done a disservice to the stories. Part of this is because they so often strayed from the original stories (which were gems) and partly because they portrayed Holmes in ways that were totally different from the stories.The Sherlock Holmes the public assumes is from the Conan Doyle stories is actually mostly the product of the actor William Gillette. On stage and in silent films, he popularized the image of the deerstalker cap (which Holmes only really wore when traveling in the country--if even then), the curved pipe and the phrase "elementary, my dear Watson". Instead, in the books the Conan Doyle character would have dressed and acted exactly the way Jeremy Brett did in these TV mini-movies.It's obvious that the makers of these films really cared. Holmes was like Holmes and the plots were almost always exactly like the stories with only the smallest of changes to fit the time frame and tell a cohesive story.See these films. They are literate, intelligent and trust the original source material. I congratulate all those involved in these beautiful shows. Unfortunately, however, Jeremy Brett passed away a few years back and we won't see any more of these Holmes shows, though it is fortunate that before his death they brought so many of them to the screen. Too bad one of my favorites ("The Four Orange Pips") wasn't one of them. However, my very favorite ("A Scandal in Bohemia") was!