The Speckled Band

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.

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.

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

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.

This is the first Sherlock Holmes story I ever read (I guess, I was about ten). As strange as it is, it has a tremendous place in my heart. The Jeremy Brett/David Burke version is the best I've seen. It does justice to the canon. This is the story of two sisters who have an inheritance and who live with their father, a violent, explosive man. One of the sisters succumbs to some weird attack. It is our hero's task to figure out what is going on. These young women have been living in the oddest situation. For example, their beds are fastened to the floor, immovable. Strange sounds are heard in the night. Wild animals pervade the property around the house. The motivations are not that unusual as we watch things unfold, but the methods are really bizarre. I think it's the circus like atmosphere of this poor young woman's world that is the attraction. As a previous commentator, I also enjoyed the evil father's confrontation with Holmes, who is really unflappable, no matter what. Conan-Doyle frequently took liberties with the natural reality (despite being a medical man himself) and often assumed his readers would take things at face value. I know I did. This is a really fun story with sad implications and heartbreak. Sometimes we forget how the first girl died and what a loss this was for her surviving sibling. Watch this, ignore your scientific hesitation, and just enjoy it.