The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

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The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series).jpg
Genre Anthology
Period drama
Crime
Mystery
Detective
StarringVarious
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes26
Production
Running time50 minutes
Production company Thames Television
Original release
Network ITV
Release20 September 1971 (1971-09-20) –
7 May 1973 (1973-05-07)

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is a British anthology mystery television series produced by Thames Television which was originally broadcast on the ITV Network. There were two series of 13 fifty-minute episodes; the first aired in 1971, the second in 1973. [1] The programme presented adaptations of short mystery, suspense or crime stories featuring, as the title suggests, detectives who were literary contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

Contents

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes took its inspiration – and title – from a series of published anthologies by Hugh Greene, younger brother of author Graham Greene and the former director-general of the BBC. [2] Greene is credited on the programme as a creative consultant. [3]

Cast

Recurring

Guests

Episode list

Series 1 (20 September – 9 December 1971)

No.TitleFictional detective(s)Author(s) of original storyActor(s) who portrayed detective(s)
1.1"A Message from the Deep Sea" Dr John Thorndyke, forensic scientist R. Austin Freeman John Neville
1.2"The Missing Witness Sensation" Max Carrados, blind detective Ernest Bramah Robert Stephens
1.3"The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Ltd." Horace Dorrington, corrupt detective Arthur Morrison Peter Vaughan
1.4"The Duchess of Wiltshire's Diamonds"Simon Carne, gentleman thief Guy Boothby Roy Dotrice
1.5"The Horse of the Invisible" Thomas Carnacki, occult detective William Hope Hodgson Donald Pleasence
1.6"The Case of the Mirror of Portugal" Horace Dorrington, corrupt detective Arthur Morrison Peter Vaughan
1.7"Madame Sara"Dixon Druce, trade investigator L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace John Fraser
1.8"The Case of the Dixon Torpedo"Jonathan Pryde, [n 1] enquiry agent Arthur Morrison Ronald Hines
1.9"The Woman in the Big Hat" Lady Molly of Scotland Yard Baroness Orczy Elvi Hale
1.10"The Affair of the Tortoise"Martin Hewitt, working-class detective Arthur Morrison Peter Barkworth
1.11"The Assyrian Rejuvenator"Romney Pringle, reformed con artist"Clifford Ashdown" (R. Austin Freeman and John Pitcairn) Donald Sinden
1.12"The Ripening Rubies"Bernard Sutton, professional jeweller Max Pemberton Robert Lang
1.13"The Case of Laker, Absconded"Martin Hewitt and Jonathan Pryde [n 1] Arthur Morrison Peter Barkworth and Ronald Hines

Series 2 (29 January – 7 May 1973)

No.TitleFictional detective(s)Author(s) of original storyActor(s) who portrayed detective(s)
2.1"The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway" Polly Burton, [n 2] lady journalist Baroness Orczy Judy Geeson
2.2"Five Hundred Carats"Inspector Lipinzki, South African police detective George Griffith Barry Keegan
2.3"Cell 13" Professor Van Dusen, the Thinking Machine Jacques Futrelle Douglas Wilmer
2.4"The Secret of the Magnifique"John Laxworthy, reformed criminal E. Phillips Oppenheim Bernard Hepton
2.5"The Absent-Minded Coterie"Eugene Valmont, private investigator Robert Barr Charles Gray
2.6"The Sensible Action of Lieutenant Holst"Lieutenant Holst, Danish police detectivePalle Rosenkrantz John Thaw
2.7"The Superfluous Finger" Prof Van Dusen, the Thinking Machine Jacques Futrelle Douglas Wilmer
2.8"Anonymous Letters" Dagobert Trostler, Viennese sleuth"Balduin Groller" (Adalbert Goldscheider) Ronald Lewis
2.9"The Moabite Cypher" Dr John Thorndyke, forensic scientist R. Austin Freeman Barrie Ingham
2.10"The Secret of the Fox Hunter"Duckworth Drew of the Secret Service William Le Queux Derek Jacobi
2.11"The Looting of the Specie Room"Mr Horrocks, ship's purser C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne Ronald Fraser
2.12"The Mystery of the Amber Beads"Hagar Stanley, Gypsy detective Fergus Hume Sara Kestelman
2.13"The Missing Q.C.s"Charles Dallas, defence barrister"John Oxenham" (William Arthur Dunkerley) Robin Ellis

Reception

Awards

In 1972, the first series of the show won a BAFTA Award for Best Design. [5]

Home media

The first series was released on a 4-disc Region 2 DVD set by Network Distributing on 15 June 2009. [6] Acorn Media released a Region 1 version of this set on 1 September 2009. [7] Series Two was released on a Network DVD 4-disc Region 2 release on 15 February 2010; [8] Acorn followed with a Region 1 version on 27 April.

Bibliography

Notes

  1. 1 2 Jonathan Pryde is an original TV creation, replacing Martin Hewitt from Arthur Morrison's stories.
  2. ↑ The screenplay for this episode rewrites the original story to make Polly Burton, the secondary character in Baroness Orczy's "The Old Man in the Corner" stories, the detective in this episode.

References

  1. ↑ "Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute". Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
  2. ↑ History of the BBC: the 1960s
  3. ↑ BFI.org.uk
  4. ↑ "The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1973)".
  5. ↑ "TELEVISION / DESIGN". bafta.org. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  6. ↑ Network DVD
  7. ↑ Acorn Media press release, accessed 23 July 2009 Archived 20 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Network DVD
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