Silver Blaze

Peter Barkworth appeared in several episodes of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes as Martin Hewitt. He elevates this episode as Colonel Ross the owner of the race horse Silver Blaze who has gone missing in the eve of a famous horse race. The trainer is found dead, thought to have been stabbed when fighting with the abductors of the horse.

Colonel Ross has no time for Sherlock Holmes but reluctantly accepts his aid as the police are getting nowhere.

Holmes and Watson go off to Dartmoor. Suspicion lies with the neighbouring race horse breeder. Colonel Ross blames the gypsies.

The short story starts off slowly but then races ahead. It is cleverly put together and Sherlock even has a flutter at the race course. The episode is very atmospherically shot.

I think both Brett and Hardwicke were delighted to have Barkworth among the cast.

What happened to the famous race horse Silver Blaze on the eve of a significant race? Sherlock Holmes must find out who took the horse, where the horse is, now, and who brutally murdered its trainer.

This is one of the great Brett episodes.

To be honest, knowing nothing about racing or horses, the story left me cold in the book.

This story does contain one of the most famous Holmesisms, but I won't spoil it.

The Brett version keeps everything clear. And as the stable owner, Colonel Ross, guest star Peter Barkworth is perfectly cast and even brings a touch of humor to an unpleasant role.

We Brett fans despaired when Burke left the role of Doctor Watson. In this episode Edward Hardwicke proves why he was such a readily-accepted replacement. It was not the actor but the perception of Watson that mattered. And Hardwicke was the more common perception of what Watson looked like in the mind's eye.

I'm starting to note that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was certainly fascinated by the moors and cliffs of England. They seem to figure prominently in his stories, most prominently of course in The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Silver Blaze based on his story The Adventures Of Silver Blaze also has a setting on the moors.

It's on the moors on one of those English murder mystery nights that the prominent race horse Silver Blaze disappears from the stable of his owner Peter Barkworth. Later on those desolate English moors the trainer Barry Lowe is found dead with a bad head wound.

In this one Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes has to not just deduce clues from humans, but reason why a pair of animals, the selfsame race horse Silver Blaze and a dog behave as they do. As it turns out the current whereabouts of the horse and what happened to its trainer have only the slightest of connections.

This particular Holmes story is a well put together one, the conclusion will perk the interest. And we even learn that Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson has a fancy for the sport of kings.

I would have been bored if this turned out to be a racetrack story, but SILVER BLAZE is a very clever mystery about a missing horse who disappears from his stable and goes somewhere on the moors. It takes Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to solve the mystery of his disappearance.

Not overly complicated with baffling clues, it's one of the better Holmes stories. Little by little Holmes puts together pieces of what might have happened by questioning servants and stable boys and dealing with the owner of a nearby estate who knows something about the whole episode.

The usual good photography, especially for the outdoor settings on the moors and a nice performance by PETER BARKWORTH as the owner of Silver Blaze.

The short story is a very clever one. I can say the same for this episode and adaptation. While it is not my favourite episode of the series, it is just as clever and absorbing as the story. The solution whether you've read the story or not is enough to delight and surprise any Sherlock Holmes fan. The production values as is always the case with this series is of top quality with the costumes and sets authentic and the camera shots excellent. The music is still as beautiful and as haunting as before, and the writing as thoughtful and sophisticated. The cast are fine, Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke are superb and Peter Barkworth stands out of the supporting cast. In conclusion, a solid adaptation and well done episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox