Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34576 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-05-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 23
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Sherlock Holmes Collection is a comprehensive box set containing all 36 hour-long episodes plus the five feature-length specials of Granada TV's classic series starring Jeremy Brett. Originally screened in 1984, the series ran intermittently until the mid-1990s, when the leading actor's chronically failing health forced a final end (he died in 1995). Still hailed by many as the definitive Holmes, Brett presented the great detective as a solitary, nervous and depressive personality whose brilliant flashes of inspiration were interrupted by long bouts of introspection and drug-induced lethargy. In the later feature-length episodes, the actor's own ill-health added a poignant extra dimension that both deepened and darkened his portrayal of Holmes.

In a welcome departure from earlier adaptations, Dr Watson (originally played by David Burke, then by Edward Hardwicke) is a thoroughly sensible, pragmatic--if rather unimaginative--companion, not at all the bumbling sidekick made famous by Nigel Bruce in the Basil Rathbone era. Aside from impeccable central casting--bolstered by a host of distinguished thespian guest stars--and scripts that remain remarkably faithful to Conan Doyle's original stories, the series also boasts lavish period production design and a haunting music score from Patrick Gowers. Although latterly they both err too far on the side of melodrama, overall both the series and Jeremy Brett's tour de force performances are likely to remain unsurpassed.

On the DVD: The Sherlock Holmes Collection DVD box set might be complete, but the individual discs themselves are disappointingly spartan, with no additional features of any kind nor any attempt to clean up the rather scratchy 4:3 picture quality or the dull mono sound. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
Sherlock Holmes is the greatest of all fictional detectives, as famous for his deerstalker and pipe as his legendary powers of observation and deduction. He is an aloof and private man driven by a fierce intellect that gives him astounding brilliance and unfathomable eccentricity in equal measure. The late Jeremy Brett, the definitive Holmes, stars in these beautiful adaptations taken from the classic ITV1 series.

The complete collection, includes 5 feature length episodes (2 brand new to DVD) and 36 one hour episodes (2 episodes per volume).

Featuring guest appearances from stars such as John Thaw (Morse), Robert Hardy (Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets), Natasha Richardson (Maid In Manhattan), Joss Ackland (Lethal Weapon 2), Peter Vaughan (Remains Of The Day) and many more.

Special Features

• Subtitles: None
  
• Colour
  
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  
• Region Code: 2
  
• Audio: 17 episodes in mono, 6 in English Stereo
  
• Disc Format: DVD 5

Customer Reviews

Elementary, My Dear Viewer!
Jeremy Brett was an excellent Sherlock Holmes. He captured the complexity of the character beautifully, including his alleviation of boredom (or the mundane) through the use of cocaine. This series was remarkably successful because it stuck mainly to the original plots in the books by Conan Doyle. This is a wonderful boxed set that you will play again and again. Beautifully filmed - the period is captured just right, including the misery of dockland London. A "must buy" for Holmes fans!

Fairly good Holmes
I remembered this series from Norwegian TV around 1990. So i bought this box set and was anxious to see if it was still entertaining. And it is, to a degree. I must admit, my favorite TV-detective is Hercule Poirot, and compared to that series, the Sherlock Holmes series is lacking some things. You never know what Holmes is thinking, it is hard to see the leads he finds, the actor's performance is more "theatre-like", and you can never really try to figure out for yourself "who have committed the crime". But still, OK entertainment.

London's Only "Consulting Detective."
In his foreword to Bantam's "Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories," Loren Estleman called the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson literature's warmest, most symbiotic and most timeless: rightfully so. Not surprisingly, film history is littered with adaptations of Conan Doyle's tales and Holmes pastiches (using the protagonists but otherwise independent storylines). Yet - and with particular apologies to the fans of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce canon - none of these prior incarnations can hold a candle to the ITV/Granada TV series produced between 1984 and 1994, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes and first David Burke, then, beginning with this cycle and in near-seamless transition, Edward Hardwicke as a refreshingly sturdy, pragmatic, unbumbling Dr. Watson.

Jeremy Brett was the only actor who ever managed to perfectly portray Holmes's imperiousness, bitingly ironic sense of humor and apparently indestructible self-control without at the same time neglecting his genuine friendship towards Dr. Watson and the weaknesses hidden below a surface dominated by his overarching intellectual powers. The series takes the titles of its four cycles of shorter episodes - "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" - from four of the five short story collections featuring London's self-appointed only "consulting detective" (published 1892, 1905, 1894 and 1927, respectively). While not all episodes correspond exactly with the original story collections, and the series's premise - Holmes's and Watson's shared tenancy of rooms at 221B Baker Street - was no longer true even at the beginning of the "Adventures," this excellently produced series, but particularly its first two cycles ("Adventures" and "Return") and the movie-length versions of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Sign of the Four," are must-haves for any mystery fan.