Question of the week: “The awards heaped on The King's Speech this weekend makes me wonder, could you suggest a favourite London-ish historical drama?”
"Watching the old Sherlock Holmes series on PBS was, I think, one of my introductions to Britain and Britishness. What this says about me, I don't know, but my love of the Baker Street detective has stuck with me ever since.
The series I saw was produced in Britain, for ITV and starred Jeremy Brett as Holmes. It used lots of London locations for filming, and when I watch it in re-run, I play 'where are they?', and sometimes I can figure it out. But while this series is a good adaptation of the stories, it certainly isn't the first, last, or (possibly) the best.
Holmes has been taken out of his own period to fight the Nazis - many of the Basil Rathbone films have this as a plot point. But in 1942 it was topical and patriotic. Guy Ritchie's recent film takes another view of Holmes, and while leaving him in his time period makes his London out of pixels. My favourite reworking, though, has to be the new BBC series Sherlock which brings Holmes and Watson into the present day. (Not on topic for this week's theme, but do check it out.)
So, if you're interested in London on screen, try some variety of Sherlock Holmes. Even if you don't play 'spot the London location', the stories are usually good enough to keep you interested until the last clue is revealed."- Kris
(The LUP Library has dvds of the Jeremy Brett adaptations, versions of Hound of the Baskervilles from 1959, the 1980's and from 2002, plus the BBC's Sherlock. A replacement copy of the missing Guy Ritchie film, and also one of Rathbone's second world war adventures, are on order.)
* Photo by markhillary, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.
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