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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Sherlock Holmes

The world’s most famous consulting detective has not been well served on-screen. True, the Sherlock series with Benedict Cumberbatch was modern fun, and Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes an under-appreciated gem, but for purists there’s no improving on Granada Television’s Sherlock Holmes, starring Jeremy Brett. Brett’s Holmes is neurotic, difficult, brilliant—much as Conan Doyle wrote him. This excellent series ran from 1984 to 1994, covered most of the stories, and ended only with Brett’s untimely death. Nothing is as good as reading the canon, but for viewers this is as close as you’ll get. —George Kalogerakis