The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is a British television series that was produced by Thames Television and originally broadcast on the ITV Network. There were two series of 13 fifty-minute episodes; the first aired in 1971, the second in 1973. The programme presented adaptations of short mystery, suspense or crime stories featuring, as the title suggests, detectives who were literary contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes took its inspiration – and title – from a series of published anthologies by Hugh Greene, elder brother of author Graham Greene and the former director-general of the BBC.[1] Hugh Greene is credited on the programme as a creative consultant.[2]
Contents
Episode list
Series 1 (20 Sep - 9 Dec 1971)
| No. | Title | Fictional Detective(s) | Author(s) of Original Story |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1x1 | A Message from the Deep Sea | Dr. Thorndyke, forensic scientist | R. Austin Freeman |
| 1x2 | The Missing Witness Sensation | Max Carrados, blind detective | Ernest Bramah |
| 1x3 | The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Ltd. | Horace Dorrington, corrupt detective | Arthur Morrison |
| 1x4 | The Duchess of Wiltshire's Diamonds | Simon Carne, gentleman thief | Guy Boothby |
| 1x5 | The Horse of the Invisible | Thomas Carnacki, occult detective | William Hope Hodgson |
| 1x6 | The Case of the Mirror of Portugal | Horace Dorrington, corrupt detective | Arthur Morrison |
| 1x7 | Madame Sara | Dixon Druce, trade investigator | L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace |
| 1x8 | The Case of the Dixon Torpedo | Jonathan Pryde,[n 1] enquiry agent | Arthur Morrison |
| 1x9 | The Woman in the Big Hat | Lady Molly of Scotland Yard | Emma Orczy |
| 1x10 | The Affair of the Tortoise | Martin Hewitt, working-class detective | Arthur Morrison |
| 1x11 | The Assyrian Rejuvenator | Romney Pringle, reformed con artist | "Clifford Ashdown" (R. Austin Freeman and John Pitcairn) |
| 1x12 | The Ripening Rubies | Bernard Sutton, professional jeweller | Max Pemberton |
| 1x13 | The Case of Laker, Absconded | Martin Hewitt and Jonathan Pryde[n 1] | Arthur Morrison |
Series 2 (29 Jan - 7 May 1973)
| No. | Title | Fictional Detective(s) | Author(s) of Original Story |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2x1 | The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway | Polly Burton, lady journalist | Emma Orczy |
| 2x2 | Five Hundred Carats | Inspector Lipinzki, police detective | George Griffith |
| 2x3 | Cell 13 | Prof Van Dusen, the Thinking Machine | Jacques Futrelle |
| 2x4 | The Secret of the Magnifique | John Laxworthy, reformed criminal | E. Phillips Oppenheim |
| 2x5 | The Absent-Minded Coterie | Eugene Valmont, private investigator | Robert Barr |
| 2x6 | The Sensible Action of Lieutenant Holst | Lieutenant Holst, police detective | Palle Rosenkrantz |
| 2x7 | The Superfluous Finger | Prof Van Dusen, the Thinking Machine | Jacques Futrelle |
| 2x8 | Anonymous Letters | Dagobert Trostler, Viennese sleuth | "Balduin Groller" (Adalbert Goldscheider) |
| 2x9 | The Moabite Cypher | Dr. Thorndyke, forensic scientist | R. Austin Freeman |
| 2x10 | The Secret of the Fox Hunter | Duckworth Drew of the Secret Service | William Le Queux |
| 2x11 | The Looting of the Specie Room | Mr. Horrocks, ship's purser | C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne |
| 2x12 | The Mystery of the Amber Beads | Hagar Stanley, Gypsy detective | Fergus Hume |
| 2x13 | The Missing Q.C.s | Charles Dallas, defense barrister | "John Oxenham" (William Arthur Dunkerley) |
DVD availability
The first series was released on a 4-disc Region 2 DVD set by Network Distributing on 15 June 2009.[3] Acorn Media released a Region 1 version of this set on 1 September 2009.[4] Series Two was released on a Network DVD 4-disc Region 2 release on 15 February 2010;[5] Acorn followed with a Region 1 version on 27 April.
Bibliography
- Greene, Hugh; editor. The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon Books, 1970; ISBN 0-394-41330-X
- Greene, Hugh; editor. Cosmopolitan Crimes: Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon Books, 1971; ISBN 0-394-47340-X
- Greene, Hugh; editor. Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon Books, 1973; ISBN 0-394-48827-X
- Greene, Hugh; editor. The American Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon Books, 1976; ISBN 0-394-40921-3
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jonathan Pryde is an original TV creation, replacing Martin Hewitt from Arthur Morrison's stories.
References
- ↑ History of the BBC: the 1960s
- ↑ BFI.org.uk
- ↑ Network DVD
- ↑ Acorn Media press release, accessed 23 July 2009
- ↑ Network DVD
External links
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes at the Internet Movie Database
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes at the BFI Film & TV database
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes at Television Heaven
