- What seems at first to be a harmless prank played upon a red-headed man is soon revealed to be much more: a sinister scheme devised by the Napoleon of Crime.
- Sherlock Holmes in investigates the strange case of Jabez Wilson. The man was recently offered employment by an organization known as the Red Headed League. For the grand sum of 4 pounds per week, he was to sit in an office and copy out entries fro an encyclopedia, starting with the letter A. He had responded to an advertisement and while there were many applicants, he has no idea why he was selected as the League's beneficiary. When after several weeks his employment is suddenly terminated, Mr. Wilson doesn't know what think. Holmes quickly deduces however that it was the location of his office as much as his red hair that resulted in him getting the employment in the first place.—garykmcd
- Sherlock Holmes is contacted by Jabez Wilson with a strange, harmless-seeming, chain of events. Mr Wilson is red-headed and was hired by the Red Headed League to perform a minor task each day for a very decent salary. To his surprise, however, the work is suddenly stopped and his employer is nowhere to be found. Though paid handsomely he feels he has been tricked in some way. Holmes initially finds the series of events amusing but after some contemplation sees a much more sinister plot in operation.—grantss
- Jabez Wilson (Roger Hammond), a London pawnbroker, comes to consult Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. While studying his client, both Holmes and Watson notice his red hair, which has a distinct flame-like hue. Wilson tells them that some weeks before, his young assistant, Vincent Spaulding (whom Wilson had hired recently from a newspaper advertisement & a clutch of applicants because Spaulding agreed to work at half wages), urged him to respond to a newspaper want-ad offering work to only red-headed male applicants. Wilson notices that Spaulding loves photography & spends many hours in the shop's basement to develop the negatives.
The next morning, Wilson had waited in a long line of fellow red-headed men, was interviewed by one Mr Duncan Ross (Richard Wilson) and was the only applicant hired, because none of the other applicants qualified; their red hair was either too dark or too bright, and did not match Wilson's unique flame color.
Wilson tells Holmes that his business has been struggling. Since his pawn shop did most of its business in the evenings, he was able to vacate his shop for short periods in the afternoon, receiving £4 a week for several weeks (equal to £380/week today); the work was obviously useless clerical work in a bare office, only performed for nominal compliance with a will, whereupon he was made to copy the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Wilson learned much about the subjects starting with the "A" version and looked forward to getting into the "B" section. One morning, a sign on the locked office door inexplicably announced that "THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED."
Wilson went to the landlord, who said that he had never heard of Duncan Ross, the person who managed the league office. The landlord did remember the tenant with scarlet hair and gives him a card which directs Wilson to an artificial knee company. Wilson ends the story with how frustrated he is losing the £4 a week & that Spaulding had advised Wilson to spend the coming weekend at his sisters as the whole business of losing the easy income had terribly upset Wilson.
Holmes and Watson laugh at Wilson because of the ridiculous situation, but Holmes assures him that by Monday they will solve the case. Wilson leaves after having given the detective a description of Spaulding; Holmes decides to go and see Spaulding, whom Holmes notices has dirty trouser knees. Holmes then taps on the pavement in front of the pawnbroker's shop. With the case solved, he calls Police Inspector Jones (John Labanowski) and Mr. Merryweather (John Woodnutt), a director of the bank located next door.
Merryweather initially refuses to cooperate, but under severe advice from the police to cooperate with Holmes, he reveals that the bank had recently borrowed 60,000 gold coins from a French bank and the same had been stored at this particular branch of the bank, which was next door to Wilson's pawn shop. Holmes's careful consideration of the entire situation that a bigger criminal mind is at work. He suggests that Prof Moriarty (Eric Porter) might have been involved in planning the entire caper. Holmes elaborates that while Moriarty has never been seen by anybody but is responsible for half the crimes in London. Moriarty is a master criminal strategist & is never caught.
The four hide themselves in the bank vault and confront the thieves when they show up. They are John Clay (Spaulding) (Tim McInnerny), who has a long history of criminal activity already, and his helper Archie (Duncan Ross) (Malcolm Weaver). Under the aliases of Spaulding and Ross, they had contrived the 'Red-Headed League' rigmarole to keep Wilson out of his shop while they dug in the basement, to break into the bank vault next door. Although paying Jabez Wilson four pounds a week was expensive, it was a pittance compared to the ill-gotten thousands they were looking to steal from the bank. Prof Moriarty is shown to be angry at how Holmes messed with his carefully laid plan & wants to be rid of him.
Holmes explains that Spaulding was using his photography as an excuse to plan the tunnel to the bank. He used the ruse of the Red Headed league to get rid of Wilson for 4 hrs a day, to carry out the digging uninterrupted. Holmes tapped the front of the pawnshop to ascertain the tunnel was indeed being dug towards the bank. He ascertained the day of the robbery as robbing the bank on a Saturday would have given the robbers a full day to escape.
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