The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 5 (The Resident Patient / The Red-Headed League / The Final Problem)
In "The Resident Patient," Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) and Dr. Watson (David Burke) are approached by Dr. Percy Trevelyan (Nicholas Clay), who has been set up in an office by a man named Blessington (Patrick Newell) in exchange for free medical care. Despite several successful years of this arrangement, Blessington is found hanging in his room. This episode from the long-running Granada Television series has the incomparable Brett enact one of Holmes's most dramatic and complex deductions. A terrific show, from the earliest and perhaps best years of the series."The Red-Headed League" is based on a truly popular tale from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes canon. The story has a pawnbroker named Wilson (John Woodnutt) hearing from an assistant about a wealthy foundation, the Red-Headed League, dedicated to the "propagation and spread of... redheads as well as [to] their maintenance." Good fun all around, especially for Holmes fans who would enjoy seeing this unique story well adapted for the screen.In 1893 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's weariness with his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, led him to write "The Final Problem." The plan was to bring Holmes face to face with his most cunning and vile adversary, Professor Moriarty (Eric Porter), in a showdown that would bring a graceful and ennobling close to the Holmes saga. In time, Doyle allowed popular pressure to change his mind, and he brought back the sleuth, but this engrossing adaptation truly seems like Holmes's last bow and gives no hint of things to come.--Tom Keogh