I was surprised when Granada announced the second series of The Return of Sherlock Holmes. I did not expect to see it.
I remember the tabloid headlines at the time. Jeremy Brett had a mental breakdown after the death of his wife in 1985 and he was committed to a psychiatric hospital.
I later found out that not only was Brett sectioned, his physical health had suffered. Journalists would pretend to be doctors to try to gain access to his medical records or just get near him and ask if he had Aids. Brett was bisexual.
The producers of the show got Granada to move him to a private hospital and pay for it. With help from friends such as Edward Hardwicke, Brett did get better but the medication bloated him.
In The Devil's Foot, you see that Brett has put on weight and he has short hair. The story actually sees him going to Cornwall to convalesce.
However very soon he comes across the tragedy of the Tregennis family. Two brothers are driven mad, their sister dead. Holmes needs to find out what caused this horror.
Later the estranged brother Mortimer Tregennis is also found dead.
The episode makes good use of the Cornish coastline. It even sees Holmes go on a bad trip and we see a symbolic burial of a syringe, Holmes finally gives up his habit. I was not really convinced by part of the mystery but it was effectively portrayed on the screen.
I remember the tabloid headlines at the time. Jeremy Brett had a mental breakdown after the death of his wife in 1985 and he was committed to a psychiatric hospital.
I later found out that not only was Brett sectioned, his physical health had suffered. Journalists would pretend to be doctors to try to gain access to his medical records or just get near him and ask if he had Aids. Brett was bisexual.
The producers of the show got Granada to move him to a private hospital and pay for it. With help from friends such as Edward Hardwicke, Brett did get better but the medication bloated him.
In The Devil's Foot, you see that Brett has put on weight and he has short hair. The story actually sees him going to Cornwall to convalesce.
However very soon he comes across the tragedy of the Tregennis family. Two brothers are driven mad, their sister dead. Holmes needs to find out what caused this horror.
Later the estranged brother Mortimer Tregennis is also found dead.
The episode makes good use of the Cornish coastline. It even sees Holmes go on a bad trip and we see a symbolic burial of a syringe, Holmes finally gives up his habit. I was not really convinced by part of the mystery but it was effectively portrayed on the screen.