- Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – The Solitary Cyclist
- IMDb: link
Sherlock Sunday takes us back to 221 B Baker Street and the Granada Television’s faithful adaptations of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. “The Solitary Cyclist” offers an example of Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) being too slow to act nearly spelling disaster for his client Violet Smith (Barbara Wilshere) who hires the detective after noticing an odd man following her every week on her journey to and from the train station. The truth behind the mystery has to do with the sudden interest in the young woman from Mr. Carruthers (John Castle), whose daughter she is now tutoring, and the far less agreeable Mr. Woodley (Michael Siberry), following the death of her uncle overseas.
The faithful adaptation features several familiar aspects of Holmes stories such as Watson (David Burke) being sent ahead to gather facts (and Holmes offering him something far less than praise for his efforts). The story is notable also for neither Sir Arthur Conan Doyle nor The Strand Magazine (where it was originally published) being all that happy with it. The Strand objected to how little the detective appears, forcing a rewrite, and for Doyle he believed the story wasn’t up to the same quality of the other stories he had penned at that time. Despite that fact, the story does make for a solid episode of the series with much of the credit going to Barbara Wilshere who charms the detective, and the audience, in her entreaty for help and then has to play on a variety of emotions given the circumstances which unfold.
