From: kathyli@sdcrsi.cray.com (the Rev. Mom)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.holmes
Subject: Re: Brett IS Holmes [+Granada series info & trivia]
Date: 11 Sep 92 08:36:16 GMT
Organization: CRS San Diego UUCP Gateway

> dsmythe@netcom.com (Dave Smythe) writes:
>> diwadkva@ctrvx2.vanderbilt.edu (Vaibhav A. Diwadkar) writes:
>>The subject heading is indicative of my views.
>>
>>I cannot imagine watching another actor play Sherlock.
 
>How about the same actor playing someone else?  For a little cognitive
>dissonance, check out JB as Eliza Doolittle's worshiper from afar in
>My Fair Lady...  (he sings, if I remember correctly)

Well, he lip-synchs, as has been mentioned, but then so did
Audrey Hepburn in that movie.

If you want to go hunting down Jeremy Brett, I suggest looking
for WAR AND PEACE; he's in there for about ten minutes, playing
Audrey Hepburn's brother (this is while he was being groomed for
Hollywood stardom).  One can also find him in a variety of BBC
productions, including the first-ever series shown on MYSTERY!,
an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA (as Maxim de Winter,
no less) [This one just aired a month or so ago, so check with
any PBS fiends you know.] A&E also occasionally airs a MERCHANT
OF VENICE with Olivier as Shylock, and Brett as Bassanio.

The *real* actor-spotting on the Granada Sherlock Holmes that
will blow your mine (but only if you're an ST:TNG fan :-) is
noticing that Marina Sirtis [Troi] plays Lucrezia Venucci
in "The Six Napoleans."

And yes, the current Watson is Edward Hardwicke, son of Cecil
Hardwicke.  He and Brett were *great* on stage in THE SECRET OF
SHERLOCK HOLMES (written by Jeremy Paul).

Some more trivia: In the UK, Holmes is *not* shown
on one of the BBC stations; Granada's an independent.  This means
that across the pond, they're seen with commercials: that's why
there's a break every 15 minutes at some dramatic point.

The show's authenticity of period detail can also be directly
attributed to the producer John Hawkesworth, the man who was
responsible for the immense period detail in UPSTAIRS,
DOWNSTAIRS.  You may have noticed that over the course of the
last six seasons, the show has moved from 1898 to 1902.
The best source on the show is Peter Haining's book (now in a
second edition that brings the episode guide in the back up to
date to include "Frances Carfax" [which is *not* new, but was
held back from the last series until pledge time], THE TELEVISION
SHERLOCK HOLMES.  Really worth finding if you can get your hands
on it.

THE MASTER BLACKMAILER has aired in the UK (last Xmas to be
exact). It's a two-hour adaptation of "The Adventure of Charles
Augustus Milverton", and as the name-change may indicate, it's
been substantially "reworked." I think this is likely to be the
case for any upcoming stories. [I shudder to think what they're
going to have to do to "A Study in Scarlet" to make it fit in
with existing continuity, now]. It seems inevitable, given that
if you're a writer you like writing your own stories more than
adapting someone else's. Especially when you've been doing it a
*damn* long time.

Anyways, the blackmailer in the title will be played by Robert
Hardy (Siegfried in ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL), and Emma
Thompson's younger sister Sophy plays the maid that Holmes courts
while undercover. She gets to kiss Holmes, and according to an
interview with Brett in ANGLOFILE, it should be a pretty
memorable scene.

Brett's mentioned that upcoming episodes started filming this
May with "Red Circle."  "Sussex Vampire" was mentioned as a
one of the next batch.  He has no problem with funding;
Mobil's always said they'll support the show as long as he wants
to do it.

--Kathy Li, Anglothespianphile.
-- 
------------------------| "...[Costner] is brilliant as Robin Hood, and I'm
kathyli@sdcrsi.cray.com |  afraid Alan Rickman, who plays the Sheriff, is
------------------------| *appalling*." ---Jeremy Brett, ANGLOFILE vol.4, no.2
Newsgroups: alt.fan.holmes