The Six Napoleons

This is a fine episode in which the oft dim-witted Lestrade gives us a rare glimpse of his and the police's admiration of and cooperation with the master sleuth. In response, Holmes demonstrates, in a momentary but wholly rewarding scene, how this unaffected, genuine praise deeply moves him.

It is an illustration of Mr. Brett's particular talent of how, within a few seconds of barely perceptible eye and facial transformations, he is able to convey the degree to which the respect of the police touches him as if he has longed for the acknowledgment. Just as briefly, Brett switches back to the colder, ruder Holmes. I replayed the scene over and over to fully capture an accomplished thespian showing us how it's done.

The Six Napoleons is easily one of the best of "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" series, and one I have seen five times over the past three weeks, finding something new to love and admire every time. For instance if you love Holmes, Watson and Lestrade together you are in heaven as their scenes in The Six Napoleons are the best and funniest of the entire series especially the humbug exchange, the build up to the final denouncement and the scene where Lestrade shares his theory about the busts smashing. The story may not be the most interesting in hindsight, but what is done with the story here is what makes the episode so remarkable. The Six Napoleons is well paced, suspenseful, funny, exciting and always compelling, while there are some absolutely brilliant episodes other than this one not many have all five of those qualities and so well in the way The Six Napoleons has. Once again, it is superbly made, evocative in atmosphere and meticulous in detail. The music is hauntingly beautiful, and the writing is droll and intelligent. Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke and Colin Jeavons couldn't have been more perfect as Holmes, Watson and Lestrade, Brett is commanding, Hardwicke is composed and quietly intelligent and Jeavons is a comic joy(his Chiswick explanation is yet another little thing I loved about the episode) and gives perhaps his best performance of the episodes he starred in. The supporting cast also give good performances, in Jeffrey Gardiner's case as Sandeford, great. Overall, such a fun episode. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This is one of the very best performances by Mr. Jeremy Brett. We usually see Sherlock Holmes cold as ice with no emotions to the persons involved in any case and merely treats them as subjects. However, human side of Holmes surfaces at the end of this episode when Inspector Lestrade Played nicely by Mr. Colin Jeavons admires him from the bottom of his heart that moves Holmes almost to watery eyes. Many have played Sherlock Holmes ; but Mr. Brett lived Sherlock Holmes with equal contribution by Mr. Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson and their on screen chemistry was flawless. I understand in real life too, they were good friends.

This is one of the better known stories. A number of plaster figures of Napoleon have been smashed by someone. It would appear to be burglary, but nothing much has been taken. It's not a fetish. No one has been harmed until one day that ends with a murder. The best part of this offering is the byplay between Holmes and Inspector LeStrade who plays Hamilton Burger to Holmes' Perry Mason. He's always wrong, but he has the best of intentions. Holmes is perpetually disappointed by the police and their ineptness, but not as bad in the original stories as they are in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Holmes episodes. In this, while LeStrade comes up with some pretty preposterous theories, Holmes doesn't overtly abuse him. They actually work together well and LeStrade actually pays him a great compliment, telling him how significant his contributions are to Scotland Yard. The problem at this time, of course, is that the fine points of detection had not been really used. Scotland Yard was as much a political entity as a police force. That aside, Holmes suspect that the Napoleon bust must have some existence beyond the mere acts of vandalism. Apparently, LeStrade all but disappears from the canon after this story. He is a much more human character in the Granada series (as is Watson) and as a true fan, I really appreciate that.

To me and clearly a great many others, Jeremy Brett was the man born to play Holmes. No-one else can or will ever come close.

The point that struck me about this particular episode above all others, is perhaps the most 'singular' moment of the entire Granada series....Holmes's tear.

If you somehow missed it, re-watch it. If you've seen it, did it not affect you? It goes way beyond the, 'softer human emotions' mentioned by the author. It seemed to come straight from Brett's heart.

That he allowed this definitive portrayal of Holmes to be so very human (and caused me to shed a tear in the process) was quite simply, extraordinary.

As a footnote, I wasn't sure about the overtly 'Mafioso' theme of this episode. Though there are clear Mafia references in the original, I felt the screenplay became just a bit too G-dfatherly. Didn't spoil it though, still 10/10!