The Speckled Band

I have made no secret of loving the very vast majority of the Granada Sherlock Holmes adaptations, and for me The Speckled Band is one of the better entries of the series. The story itself is one of the best of Sherlock Holmes, at least in my personal view, as it is so thrilling, and Dr Roylott is one of the most memorable "villains" of any Holmes story especially of how he's described, you know straightaway this is not a character you would want to mess with. Adaptation wise, The Speckled Band is excellent, the story is still thrilling and the beginning and ending both have a haunting and compelling atmosphere to them. The Speckled Band also succeeds on its own terms, the production values are as usual very evocative, the music is superb and the script is exceptional in its quality. The acting is fine, David Burke is only decent here as Watson, it's a good enough performance but to start with I felt he could have done a little bit more with the character. However, Jeremy Brett is brilliant giving one of his coolest and more urbane performances of the series particularly in his scene with Roylott and Jeremy Kemp is delightfully eccentric and overbearing. In conclusion, of a fine series The Speckled Band is a standout. 9/10 Bethany Cox

It does not get better than this dark tale of sinister designs & plans, with Jeremy Kemp 1st rate as Dr Grimesby Roylott of Stoke Moran, as formidable an opponent as Holmes is sharp, succinct, graceful & mellow.. One of the best episodes, Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, is attentive, precise & tender towards Miss Stoner who presents him with one of his most fascinating, deadly & outrageous cases..10/10.

I first came upon the Holmes story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" in high school, as well as having Conan Doyle's historical novel "The White Company", which I've mercifully forgotten completely, as required reading.

I saw this episode when it was recently telecast on the City University Station (CUNY) in their summer Holmes series mostly from the Grenada versions.

The rather familiar early episode both in the Conan Doyle canon and in the Grenada Brett series almost looks that you have to be a Jeremy-something to work on this series as in the listing below of the dramatizer as well as the villain: dramatized by Jeremy Paul, Dr. Grimesby Roylott: Jeremy Kemp with the main actresses: Helen Stoner: Rosalyn Landor and Julia Stoner: Denise Armon

A quite straightforward approach here with Watson being played by David Burke. Perhaps it's because I was more familiar with Edward Hardwicke's Watson, that I much preferred him over Burke and I rather miss him here. But all of the acting was excellent especially by the two Jeremies and Ms. Landor. Rosalie Williams, as usual, played Mrs.Hudson, the landlady.

The suspense is nicely sustained to the end even if you are familiar with the story and I highly recommend this version.

The late Jeremy Kemp, whom I first saw as a kid in the hilarious Top Secret! but who was later etched in my memory with his performance in The Blockhouse (1973) has always been one of those actors that I keep an eye out for: if I notice him in a movie, I stop whatever I'm doing, sit down and watch it.

In this episode, he makes his presence felt as the fearsome uncle of two sisters, one of whom has died under suspicious circumstances, and the other is in fear of her life. After she visits Sherlock to ask for help, he furiously rushes into that famous apartment in 221B, and makes quite an impressive threat. Which drives Holmes to pursue the case even more keenly, of course.

Not the best episode, but quite creepy in some scenes, and a nice addition to the overall series.

In one of the best Holmes short stories, this TV episode hold true to most of the writing as Holmes and Dr Watson find a sinister scheme that could save the life of their beautiful woman client. But they will need to act fast because time is of the essence in this wonderful episode.

The story centers around Julia Stoner who is living with an eccentric step-father, Doctor Roylott, in a manor needing repair outside of London. Just recently Julia's sister had died an unusual death after a few nights of hearing strange whistling noises in her room. Now with repairs being made on the manor, Roylott tells Julia that she will have to move into her sister's old room. The first night in the room she hears the whistling noise that scared her sister. Julia seeks the help of Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes will get to the house and notice things that only he is capable of understanding. Add the background of Dr Roylott while in India and Holmes will know that the beautiful young woman is in extreme danger. All we can do is hope that Holmes, along with Dr Watson, is able to prevent another death.

One of the better stories and one of the better acting episode of the collection. Jeremy Brett is again wonderful as he plays Holmes, with all his facial tics, to near perfection. Entertaining episode to watch.