- Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – The Naval Treaty
- wiki: link
Sherlock Saturday takes us back to 221 B Baker Street and the Granada Television’s faithful adaptations of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. A letter from Percy Phelps (David Gwillim), an old schoolmate of Watson (David Burke), leads Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) to investigate the theft of secret naval treaty has been stolen from his office at the Foreign Office. The theft has left him in a state of ill-health for several weeks convalescing at home with his fiancée (Alison Skilbeck) and her brother (Gareth Thomas) at a loss as to what happened to the plans or how to salvage his reputation.
Focusing on a few peculiarities of the case such as why the plans hadn’t been seen since their disappearance, given their immense value, and the oddity of the bell chord being pulled in Phelps’ office alerting him that someone was alone with the plans, Holmes crafts a theory for the series of events which occurred that night. Enlisting the help of his client’s fiancée, Holmes lays a trap that not only solves the mystery but puts the plans back into Phelps’ possession.
As with the series as a whole, the episode is a quite faithful adaptation to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original story. We’re given flashbacks to fill in events, including chronicling the night of Holmes’ victory (the clumsy staging of which leaves something to be desired and is one of the few marks against an otherwise quite entertaining episode). Gwillim successfully sells his role as a man in the middle of a nervous breakdown and Alison Skilbeck proves to be solid casting as the woman who cares for him, and stands by him, regardless of his fits or a mistake that could tarnish his reputation. An early episode of the series, it also continues to allude to the troubles Holmes can get into when there isn’t a case worthy of his attention.
The second longest of the first set of short stories published in The Strand Magazine, the story was originally printed in two parts. “The Naval Treaty” has been adapted several times including a several radio dramas, a 1968 BBC adaptation starring Peter Cushing, and both Sherlock , which combined it with “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans,” and Elementary‘s “Art in the Blood” both take some inspiration from the story, the latter of which also worked the revelation of the secret life of Mycroft (Rhys Ifans) into its storyline as well.
