I have been watching the Granada series straight through and the direction of this episode is just strange. The camera drifts all over the place almost aimlessly during scenes, and at other times it zooms in on a random object. For instance, Holmes and Watson are having a conversation in a carriage and the camera drifts away from them and zooms in on a wheel while they are still speaking. Anytime anyone monologues the camera slowly pans in on their face as well. There are a lot of goofy shots of reflections, which could be a visual motif, I guess, but it is used to no storytelling effect and is off-style for this series. Finally, whenever Holmes, Watson, and Hopkins are in a room together they are shot in a very contrived diagonal line. I found the direction to be very distracting, and I was surprised to not find any other comments about it. Just really weird choices from a director who, at the time, had 25 years of experience.
Review of The Abbey Grange
