In 1968 the  BBC screened their latest adaption of Britain’s favourite sleuth, played on this occasion by horror legend, Peter Cushing (Horror of Dracula, Curse of Frankenstein and Horror Express), whilst Nigel Stock (The Great Escape, The Lion in Winter and Cromwell) plays sidekick Dr. Watson. The series featured 16 episodes based on the written exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, however, 10 episodes remain lost. This double disc set from Severin brings together the remaining 6 episodes on Blu-ray for the very first time.

This was not the first time that Cushing had played the role of Holmes, he starred as the infamous detective in Hammer films’ 1959 adaption of Hound of the Baskervilles alongside his great friend Christopher Lee. Cushing has always been recognised as one of the perfect actors to play the role of Holmes, his refinement and quietly spoken manner make him the ideal choice to play the detective and in this BBC series you get the sense that he’s enjoying himself. Both he and Stock work well together as the infamous duo, and the series benefits from their on-screen chemistry.

As I mentioned earlier, there are six surviving episodes of the series, A Study in Scarlet, The Blue Carbuncle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Sign of Four and the two-part, Hound of the Baskervilles. Each episode was rewritten by actor, Douglas Wilmer who starred as the legendary detective in the 1964-65 series. He had originally been due to take on the role again, however, after he had rewritten the scripts he felt unable to stick to the revised rehearsal schedule and was replaced with Cushing. It’s sad that he was unable to reprise the role, however, Cushing was more than a capable replacement and a different type of Holmes at that. Wilmer was a darker version of the detective, and his series was recognized as containing one of the finest, most accurate screen adaptions of Conan Doyle’s character, whereas Cushing toned down Holmes’ less pleasant attributes for a different, but no less effective version. 

Each episode has been restored from the original BBC masters and looks as good as one could hope for. It’s just a shame we only have six episodes to revel in. They can be watched on their own, with the BBC countdown clock, or with an audio commentary featuring the likes of Kim Newman, Barry Forshaw, and David Stuart Davies providing interesting discussion of not just this particular television production but Conan Doyle’s original stories. 

The series was fraught with production problems and a small budget, yet somehow managed to succeed despite this. I’m personally inclined to think that the adaption of Hound of the Baskervilles’ featured here is far better than Cushing’s previous undertaking of the role, however it has to be mentioned that he doesn’t feature with any great frequency in either episode. On top of that, Sir Henry Baskerville is far better portrayed by Christopher Lee than Gary Raymond, however it should be noted that Raymond is fine, just not as good as one of the finest actors of his generation. 

Overall, the set is very good, bringing a classic lost series back to life with well-informed audio commentaries from some very knowledgeable experts.  The episodes look as good as one would expect and the only real shame is that we are still missing 10 episodes, that will probably never be rediscovered. We are however given a reel of the surviving clips from the missing episodes which can be watched with or without a Jonathan Rigby commentary, there is also an audio interview conducted by David Stuart Davies with Peter Cushing. This is a must-purchase item for fans of Doyle and Holmes, and in fact, I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery.