The Red Headed League

You can sense Holmes figured out early a mastermind was involved. I like very little is explained until approaching the end. I really enjoy a detective mystery how this story was laid out., then revealed. Some reviewers are commenting the episodes aren't true to the original story. Well, to me, Jeremy Brett is the perfect Sherlock Holmes. No one comes close.

This is perhaps the best known Holmes story next to "The Hound of the Baskervilles." It involves a man, Jabez Wilson, who has been given a strange job, copying pages from the Encyclopedia Britannica in longhand. He sits at a desk in a stark room and receives payment beyond that fitting the job. Not only that, he has gotten the job because he passed muster, competing against other men with red hair. He actually went to interviews where the authenticity of the red-headed gentlemen was checked. Now, something has changed and he decides to bring his case to Holmes and Watson. One has to accept that the potential criminal enterprise has become so convoluted as to draw attention. Still, it is a delightful story which has stood the test of time. Like "The Blue Carbuncle," we are never to take anything as a life or death situation. Conan Doyle had a sense of humor. Jeremy Brett coolly investigates this with his deep tones filling the room at 221B. Well acted and portrayed with relish.

While not one of my favorites this one is certainly one of Granada's top Holmes adaptations. The story is slick, interesting, and elegantly unfolds itself. It starts out as a laughable case but it becomes serious with a bigger picture beginning to emerge and something sinister lurking beneath. It manages to be both a detective mystery and a crime story with nice touches of build up and humor. Professor Moriarty (played by Eric Porter, giving genuine meaning to word "diabolical ") makes his first appearance even though it is brief (although it was not in the original story). However, nothing is wrong with that as the series wisely used Moriarty sparingly and he would have a much larger role in the story right after this one "The Final Problem".

A man named Jabez Wilson consults Holmes with a curious case: Although he already owns an antique shop, for the last few weeks he had been employed by a certain Red Headed League to copy out the Encyclopedia Britannica. He accepted because the pay was very good and the job not that hard, but the most curious point was that he was chosen for the job because of the color of his hair. When the Red Headed League is suddenly dissolved, he contacts Holmes to find out what it was all about.

This episode has more humor than usual, but the standout moment is, of course, the introduction of Eric Porter in the role of Professor Moriarty. Roger Hammond provides the comic relief as the confused Jabez Wilson, and Tim McInnerny is very good as the noble criminal John Clay. It's a memorable episode for the imaginative crime, a must-watch for any fan of the series.

Sherlock Holmes is contacted by Jabez Wilson with a strange, harmless-seeming, chain of events. Mr Wilson is red-headed and was hired by the Red Headed League to perform a minor task each day for a very decent salary. To his surprise, however, the work is suddenly stopped and his employer is nowhere to be found. Though paid handsomely he feels he has been tricked in some way. Holmes initially finds the series of events amusing but after some contemplation sees a much more sinister plot in operation.

Another very intriguing Sherlock Holmes mystery. Like many of the Holmes stories the crime is not immediately apparent, as it hasn't been committed yet. Here Holmes needs to get ahead of the criminals to prevent a crime being committed.

The other interesting thing about this episode is that we are introduced to Holmes's nemesis, Professor Moriarty.