The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is a British anthology mystery television series produced by Thames Television which was originally broadcast on the ITV Network. There were two series of 13 fifty-minute episodes; the first aired in 1971, the second in 1973. The programme presented adaptations of short mystery, suspense or crime stories featuring, as the title suggests, detectives who were literary contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
| The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Anthology Period drama Crime Mystery Detective |
| Starring | Various |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Production company | Thames Television |
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes took its inspiration – and title – from a series of published anthologies by Hugh Greene, elder brother of author Graham Greene and the former director-general of the BBC.[1] Hugh Greene is credited on the programme as a creative consultant.[2]
Recurring characters
- Donald Pleasence as Carnacki (1 episode)
- John Neville as Dr. John Thorndyke (1 episode)
- Barrie Ingham as Dr. John Thorndyke (1 episode)
- James Cossins as Dr. Jervis (1 episode)
- Peter Sallis as Dr. Jervis (1 episode)
- Douglas Wilmer as Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen (2 episodes)
- Peter Vaughan as Horace Dorrington (2 episodes)
- Kenneth Colley as Farrish (2 episodes)
- Petronella Barker as Miss Parrot (2 episodes)
- Peter Barkworth as Martin Hewitt (2 episodes)
- Ronald Hines as Jonathan Pryde (2 episodes)
Episode list
Series 1 (20 Sep – 9 Dec 1971)
| No. | Title | Fictional Detective(s) | Author(s) of Original Story | Actor(s) who portrayed detective(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1x1 | A Message from the Deep Sea | Dr John Thorndyke, forensic scientist | R. Austin Freeman | John Neville |
| 1x2 | The Missing Witness Sensation | Max Carrados, blind detective | Ernest Bramah | Robert Stephens |
| 1x3 | The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Ltd. | Horace Dorrington, corrupt detective | Arthur Morrison | Peter Vaughan |
| 1x4 | The Duchess of Wiltshire's Diamonds | Simon Carne, gentleman thief | Guy Boothby | Roy Dotrice |
| 1x5 | The Horse of the Invisible | Thomas Carnacki, occult detective | William Hope Hodgson | Donald Pleasence |
| 1x6 | The Case of the Mirror of Portugal | Horace Dorrington, corrupt detective | Arthur Morrison | Peter Vaughan |
| 1x7 | Madame Sara | Dixon Druce, trade investigator | L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace | John Fraser |
| 1x8 | The Case of the Dixon Torpedo | Jonathan Pryde,[n 1] enquiry agent | Arthur Morrison | Ronald Hines |
| 1x9 | The Woman in the Big Hat | Lady Molly of Scotland Yard | Baroness Orczy | Elvi Hale |
| 1x10 | The Affair of the Tortoise | Martin Hewitt, working-class detective | Arthur Morrison | Peter Barkworth |
| 1x11 | The Assyrian Rejuvenator | Romney Pringle, reformed con artist | "Clifford Ashdown" (R. Austin Freeman and John Pitcairn) | Donald Sinden |
| 1x12 | The Ripening Rubies | Bernard Sutton, professional jeweller | Max Pemberton | Robert Lang |
| 1x13 | The Case of Laker, Absconded | Martin Hewitt and Jonathan Pryde[n 1] | Arthur Morrison | Peter Barkworth and Ronald Hines |
Series 2 (29 Jan – 7 May 1973)
| No. | Title | Fictional Detective(s) | Author(s) of Original Story | Actor(s) who portrayed detective(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2x1 | The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway | Polly Burton,[n 2] lady journalist | Baroness Orczy | Judy Geeson |
| 2x2 | Five Hundred Carats | Inspector Lipinzki, South African police detective | George Griffith | Barry Keegan |
| 2x3 | Cell 13 | Professor Van Dusen, the Thinking Machine | Jacques Futrelle | Douglas Wilmer |
| 2x4 | The Secret of the Magnifique | John Laxworthy, reformed criminal | E. Phillips Oppenheim | Bernard Hepton |
| 2x5 | The Absent-Minded Coterie | Eugene Valmont, private investigator | Robert Barr | Charles Gray |
| 2x6 | The Sensible Action of Lieutenant Holst | Lieutenant Holst, Danish police detective | Palle Rosenkrantz | John Thaw |
| 2x7 | The Superfluous Finger | Prof Van Dusen, the Thinking Machine | Jacques Futrelle | Douglas Wilmer |
| 2x8 | Anonymous Letters | Dagobert Trostler, Viennese sleuth | "Balduin Groller" (Adalbert Goldscheider) | Ronald Lewis |
| 2x9 | The Moabite Cypher | Dr John Thorndyke, forensic scientist | R. Austin Freeman | Barrie Ingham |
| 2x10 | The Secret of the Fox Hunter | Duckworth Drew of the Secret Service | William Le Queux | Derek Jacobi |
| 2x11 | The Looting of the Specie Room | Mr Horrocks, ship's purser | C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne | Ronald Fraser |
| 2x12 | The Mystery of the Amber Beads | Hagar Stanley, Gypsy detective | Fergus Hume | Sara Kestelman |
| 2x13 | The Missing Q.C.s | Charles Dallas, defence barrister | "John Oxenham" (William Arthur Dunkerley) | Robin Ellis |
DVD availability
The first series was released on a 4-disc Region 2 DVD set by Network Distributing on 15 June 2009.[3] Acorn Media released a Region 1 version of this set on 1 September 2009.[4] Series Two was released on a Network DVD 4-disc Region 2 release on 15 February 2010;[5] Acorn followed with a Region 1 version on 27 April.
Bibliography
- Greene, Hugh; editor. The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon Books, 1970; ISBN 0-394-41330-X
- Greene, Hugh; editor. Cosmopolitan Crimes: Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon Books, 1971; ISBN 0-394-47340-X
- Greene, Hugh; editor. Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon Books, 1973; ISBN 0-394-48827-X
- Greene, Hugh; editor. The American Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon Books, 1976; ISBN 0-394-40921-3
Notes
- Jonathan Pryde is an original TV creation, replacing Martin Hewitt from Arthur Morrison's stories.
- The screenplay for this episode rewrites the original story to make Polly Burton, the secondary character in Baroness Orczy's "The Old Man in the Corner" stories, the detective in this episode.
References
External links
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes at IMDb
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes at the BFI Film & TV database
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes at Television Heaven
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