Good Night, Mr. Holmes

The slimy, oleaginous Charles Augustus Milverton meets his well-deserved end. Second of two parts.

We're dividing this episode in two because it was a TV movie. A seminal encounter between Holmes and Charles Augustus Milverton - played to perfection by Robert Hardy. 

Monkey glands! A more-than-midlife crisis! And the horrors of animal trafficking, which still continues today. The greatest primate actor of all time (Peter Elliott), and the immortal words: "If inconvenient, come all the same." Holmes and Watson aim to rescue more than one young woman from the fragility of the male ego.

A wife-murder in the Alps - apparently, it's called uxoricide. No wonder it hasn't caught on. Followed by a porcelain collection, and a collection of...women.
Come for Sherlock Holmes, stay for Laura's encounter with Gene Simmons from KISS, who also has a collection of women.

Australians - and baby James Purefoy! We love this show because it introduces us to the nascence of our favorite actors.
A man is lying dead by a lakeside. A gamekeeper talks too much. Star-crossed would-be lovers - and a forgotten past. It's too good, too delightfully grotesque.

Another horse racing mystery! But there's a baby Jude Law, some beautiful egg cozies, and yes - a man taking advantage of his sister's fortune. And a disguise! It's Gothic mystery at its best here.

A Brazilian wife, a blameless governess, and a whole lot of rhododenrons - Rachel and Laura unpack Winchester Prison, the Huguenots, and Cheshire vs Hampshire. 

The second part of the Richard Roxburgh Hound of the Baskervilles. So good. Definitely better than the Granada version.

A deeply unsatisfying episode by Granada - who knew that women had the ability to do what they wanted, when they wanted?  Lady Frances Carfax has disappeared from a hotel in the Lake District. So many men are deeply concerned.

We're comparing the Richard Roxburgh version of Hound of the Baskervilles to the Jeremy Brett version. Roxburgh is a very different actor, and the story is told in a different way as well - leaving out the Lankford family entirely, and focusing more on wide panoramic shots of the moor. Sir Henry is not the son but the nephew of Sir Charles. And a host of other differences that true Sherlockians will enjoy.