- Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – A Scandal in Bohemia
- wiki: link
“There was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.”
Sherlock Saturday takes us back to 221 B Baker Street and the Granada Television’s faithful adaptations of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The first episode of the series introduces us to Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) and Dr. John Watson (David Burke) in one of the detective’s most famous cases: “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Hired by the King of Bohemia (Wolf Kahler), Holmes takes on the case to retrieve a compromising photograph from the home of Irene Adler (Gayle Hunnicutt) who the king is certain plans to use the photo to ruin his upcoming nuptials.
The episode is most notable for Holmes being outsmarted by Irene, but it also shows off various aspects of his character and peculiar talents including makeup (he disguises himself as booth a groom and a clergyman in the episode) and ability to out-think his opponent (tricking Adler into revealing the hiding place of her most valuable possession.) As the show would be known for, the episode is a quite faithful adaptation to the original story. Despite the lasting mark she left on Holmes, Adler would not return over the course over the show’s run, also staying true to the original subject matter.
Brett is terrific here as the detective whose ego gets the better of him. The first few minutes introduce various aspects of the character including his drug use to keep his mind sharp when London fails to present him with a problem worthy of his intellect. His pride will also be on display, and, in a rarity, bruised by circumstances outside his control. While not a fellow detective in the manner of Elementary‘s Joan Watson or a wacky best friend in Sherlock‘s John Watson, Burke is close to the character written on the page and far from the buffoonish version of Nigel Bruce. Hunnicutt may not be my favorite version of Irene, but she does leave her mark on the episode and is a great antagonist for Holmes to launch the series.
