Sherlock Holmes (1951 TV series)

Some sources state that a BBC filmed adaptation of "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" (which aired on 29 July 1951) starring Andrew Osborn as Holmes and Philip King as Watson was a pilot episode for the series[1][2][3] while others state the "Mazarin Stone" adaptation was a separate project entirely and was filmed for the Festival of Britain.[2]

According to series star Alan Wheatley, the genesis of the series resided with a review of his performance in a television adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's Rope:[2]

C A Lejeune gave me a marvellous notice in the Observer and she finished up by saying, "If the BBC have got any sense they will commission a series of Sherlock Holmes stories and ask Alan Wheatley to play Sherlock Holmes." So the BBC, very unlike them, took this up and wrote to her and said, "All right, if you will do the scripts we will do the series," and that's how they came to be done...[2]

C. A. Lejeune did indeed pen the scripts, writing all six episodes.[4] As quoted in a feature written for Radio Times, Lejeune said of the series, "we picked the stories that seemed likely to give a variety of subject, while rounding out the portrait of the man... We have tried, as loyally as we can, to preserve both the spirit and the high spirits of the original stories". Lejeune also said that "Holmes, and the Victorian world in which he mainly operated, will not be modernised in this series".[2]

Each 35-minute episode was aired live[5] and consequently no tapes exist of the series to date.[2] Live television had its pitfalls of which Wheatley later complained:

I must say I found it the most difficult thing to speak I've ever done in the whole of my career. Unfortunately, Miss Lejeune also did some things that are just not possible—technical things like not allowing enough time for changes. You see, television was live in those days, and in one particular scene she finished up with a sentence from me, and opened the next scene also with a sentence from me, in heavy disguise, with no time at all for a change![1][2]

In multiple episodes, Iris Vandeleur played Mrs. Hudson[6] and Bill Owen played Inspector Lestrade. Eric Maturin appeared as Colonel Moran in one episode, and Olga Edwardes portrayed Irene Adler in another episode.[2]

Each episode was introduced by Nona Liddell's rendition of Offenbach's "Barcarolle". Generally, a few very short and usually silent film sequences would be shot the day before the broadcast, such as shots of Holmes and Watson in a cab. The stage manager Cecil Petty and assistant stage manager Pamela Barnard had minor acting roles in most episodes.[2]

• Alan Wheatley – Sherlock Holmes (6 episodes)
• Raymond Francis – Dr. Watson (6 episodes)
• Iris Vandeleur – Mrs. Hudson (5 episodes)
• Bill Owen – Inspector Lestrade (4 episodes)
• Donald Kemp – Multiple roles (3 episodes)
• Pamela Barnard – Multiple roles (3 episodes)
• Sebastian Cabot – Jabez Wilson (1 episode)
• Alan Judd – King of Bohemia (1 episode)
• Stanley Van Beers – Inspector Forrester (1 episode)
• Olga Edwardes – Irene Adler (1 episode)
• Alvys Maben – Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope (1 episode)
• Eric Maturin – Colonel Moran (1 episode)
• Henry Oscar – Mr. Culverton Smith (1 episode)
• Martin Starkie – Vincent Spaulding (1 episode)
• H.G. Stoker – Colonel Hayter (1 episode)
• Larry Burns – Duncan Ross (1 episode)
• Clement Hamelin – Tall thin man (1 episode)
• Thomas Heathcote – Alec Cunningham (1 episode)
• John Robinson – Mr. Trelawney Hope (1 episode)
• John Stevens – Godfrey Norton (1 episode)
• Beckett Bould – Mr. Cunningham (1 episode)
• Arthur Goullet – Mr. Merryweather (1 episode)
• John Le Mesurier – Eduardo Lucas (1 episode)
• Michael Raghan – Old cabby (1 episode)
• J. Leslie Frith – The Premier (1 episode)
• Victor Platt – PC Perkins (1 episode)
• Nicholas Tannar – Hopeful applicant (1 episode)
• Iris Williams – 2nd Nursemaid (1 episode)
• Clarence Bigge – Butler (1 episode)
• Christopher Hodge – Rejected applicant (1 episode)
• Sam Kydd – Unimpressed onlooker (1 episode)
• Betty Turner – Housekeeper (1 episode)
• Tony Burton – 1st Errand boy (1 episode)
• Gordon Phillott – Mr. Acton (1 episode)
• Meadows White – Ostler (1 episode)
• Vernon Gibb – Ostler (1 episode)
• Eddie Sutch – 2nd Errand boy (1 episode)
• John Vere – Butler (1 episode)
• John Fitzgerald – Ostler (1 episode)
• Max Barrett (1 episode)
• John Boddington (1 episode)
• Geoffrey Chater (1 episode)
• Eric Dodson (1 episode)
• Alexis Milne (1 episode)
• Florence Viner (1 episode)
• Edmond Warwick (1 episode)

The 23 October 1951 issue of The Times said "The performance was done in a proper spirit of seriousness. Mr Alan Wheatley, though rather younger and fuller in the face than the Holmes of his opponents' nightmares, yet catches the essential character."[1][2]

• Sherlock Holmes at IMDb