The Greek Interpreter

The story while interesting and well paced and constructed is a somewhat weird one this time around. Not in the story itself but in some scenes such the interrogation scene. However, The Greek Interpreter is fascinating, and worth seeing for the introduction of Mycroft, who is a shrewd and very intelligent character and just seeing him with Holmes is what makes the episode well worth watching. The acting is very good as is expected, Jeremy Brett and David Burke are both brilliant, and Charles Gray is also excellent. There is also George Costigan and Nicholas Field, who make a sinister pair. The production values are wonderful, the music is at its most beautiful and haunting and there is some strong writing throughout. All in all, fascinating episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Dr Watson is surprised to discover that Sherlock has a brother, Mycroft, and gets to meet him. At this meeting Mycroft introduces a Greek interpreter, Mr Melas, who is anxious that Sherlock take on his case. He was hired to interpret for a shadowy individual who it appears to be holding a man and his sister hostage.

A reasonably interesting Sherlock Holmes case. We get to meet Mycroft Holmes for the first time and have a decent mystery on our hands.

Not entirely satisfactory though. Little is explained in the end in terms of why this kidnapping took place. Also I found it implausible that a man willing to kidnap and potentially murder two people would allow a witness, the Greek interpreter, to go free.

Still, it's interesting enough and, as always, Jeremy Brett is fantastic as Sherlock Holmes. His performances are a highlight of the series.

In The Greek Interpreter Sherlock Holmes finds his next client at the Diogenes Club where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduces the character of Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older brother. As played by Charles Gray, Mycroft has every bit of Sherlock's deductive reasoning powers, but has chosen to use that in a different though honest field of endeavor. He's a career civil servant, but THE civil servant in the United Kingdom, much like Nigel Hawthorne a century later in Yes Minister.

Much like the other tales that Conan Doyle has written, Jeremy Brett as Holmes gets a client with an unusual tale. A very mysterious man played by George Costigan with a unique foreign accent kidnaps Alkis Kritikos and brings him to a house where his talents as an interpreter are needed. Costigan and Nicholas Field are holding Anton Alexander captive and are torturing him. But since he only speaks Greek they need an interpreter to convey to him to sign some important document so that they will stop. Alexander's sister Victoria Harwood is also involved, but I can't say more than that.

Since the villains are identified right away this particular Conan Doyle story is not any kind of whodunit, but rather almost an action adventure as the brothers Holmes and David Burke as Dr. Watson race against time to affect a rescue. Their efforts are considerably hampered by Scotland Yard Inspector Oliver Maguire and their own respect for due process UK style.

George Costigan was extremely interesting as the villain. Since I'm not familiar with him over on this side of the pond, I was wondering whether he was imitating Peter Lorre or that was his natural voice. Either way he was one sinister dude.

Not too bad an entry in the Conan Doyle catalog of Sherlock Holmes stories.

Having recently rediscovered the Holmes stories, I had forgotten how much foreign intrigue was involved in the stories. I guess colonial England had its share of spies and dissenters. There were also powers such as Germany and Russia that were always knocking on the door of the world's greatest empire. This has to do with an effort to make use of a Greek interpreter to coerce someone into signing something. The language barrier is at the center of it all. Holmes is intrigued by the fact that there is all this carting around of people to mysterious locations, threats, and violence. The joy is in the questioning and the acting on clues. This was never my favorite story but it makes for good television, and, of course, the two leads do a masterful job.

A Greek interpreter is taken to a house where two sinister types are trying to force a Greek man into signing a document. After he's released, he tells his story to his neighbor, Mycroft Holmes, who of course gets his brother Sherlock to look into the case.

This is one of my two favorite episodes from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which curiously have the lowest ratings of the series on imdb (the other being The Norwood Builder). It's noteworthy simply for the introduction of the Diogenes Club and the amazing Charles Gray as Mycroft Holmes, a role that's probably as hard to cast as Sherlock himself. Gray steals every scene, but this would've been a memorable episode even without him. Yes, this is not much of a whodunit, since the villains are apparent from the very first scene, but Sherlock Holmes stories aren't only about finding out who did what: they're about procedure, deduction, logic, great dialogue. In that sense, this is a wonderful, very memorable episode.