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Tripwire’s Joel Meadows Comments On a Few Other Sherlock Holmes Adaptations
Doyle on The Small And Big Screen
Tripwire’s Editor In Chief Joel Meadows has spent the last few years making his dream of adapting Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal detective a reality. With the assistance of his partner in crime (or should that be deduction) volumes one and two Joel and Andy Bennett’s Sherlock Holmes And The Empire Builders are now available to read and enjoy.
With this in mind Tripwire’s contributing writer Paul Neal thought it may be interesting ask Joel Meadows to share a few thoughts about a handful of the other many other interpretations of Sherlock Holmes and whether they enjoyed them or if they even influenced their creative process. Obviously it is almost impossible to be entirely thorough, so Neal cherry picked just a handful of the many approaches to this seemingly timeless character…
Neal endeavoured to provide a few bits of trivia and fun facts for each example and then let the creator have his say.
Photo Note: This iconic bronze statue of Sherlock Holmes is located at 4 Marylebone Rd London, sits against a backdrop of the famous 221B Baker Street address.
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Sherlock.
Notable Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman.
Broadcaster: BBC.
Years: 2010-2017.
Notes: The series ran for a total of 13 90-minute episodes. Creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gattiss have stated a fifth series has been plotted but the likelihood of viewers ever seeing this series seem to be increasingly remote.
Joel’s comments:
I admit because I wasn’t a fan of Moffat on Doctor Who, I never watched Sherlock. I may go back and watch it now but it put me off.
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Elementary.
Notable Cast: Jonny Lee Miller, Lucy Liu.
Broadcaster: CBS Television Studios.
Years: 2012-2019
Notes: This series ran for 7 seasons with a total of 154 episodes.
Joel’s Comments:
I enjoyed Elementary a great deal. I thought Lee Miller was a great choice as a modern-day Holmes and there was good chemistry between him and Lucy Liu as his sidekick. There were also some wonderful guest performances from the like of John Noble and Rhys Ifans too.
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Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Notable Cast: Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.
Studio: Warner Bros Pictures.
Years: 2009 and 2011 respectively.
Notes: Rumour persist of a third movie. After directing the first two, it is hoped director Guy Ritchie would return to create a popular trilogy.
Joel’s Comments:
Despite the fact that these are severe subversions of Doyle’s creations, I actually have quite a soft spot for both of them. Both Downey Jr and Law are very likeable onscreen although Jared Harris as Moriarty feels a little wasted in Game of Shadows.
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Mr Holmes
Notable Cast: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, John Sessions
Studio/Finance: Entertainment One, Miramax, BBC Films.
Year: 2015
Notes: Based on A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin.
Joel’s Comments:
Mr Holmes is an excellent tale of an older Holmes, living down on the South Coast and McKellen brings a real sense of warmth and gravitas to the role. It feels like an inventive postscript to Doyle’s tales.
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Young Sherlock Holmes
Notable Cast: Nicolas Rowe, Alan Cox.
Studio: Amblin Entertainment.
Year: 1985.
Notes: Directed by Barry Levinson and with a screenplay by Chris Columbus. It is worth noting, Nicolas Rowe reprised the role of Holmes for flashback scenes in the aforementioned Mr Holmes in 2015.
Joel’s Comments:
This is a film that I have returned to a great deal as even though I know it’s definitely not part of Doyle’s canon for either of the characters, there is an infectious sense of adventure here and some great Holmes easter eggs that make it a real joy to watch. It’s also helped by an exceptional cast of quality British character actors like Freddie Jones and Anthony Higgins as Holmes’ mentor who harbours a dark secret is wonderfully malevolent.
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Sherlock Holmes. 1930s-40s Film series
Notable Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce.
Studios: 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures
Years: 1939-1946
Notes: Between the two studios with the two main lead actors featured in fourteen movies in total.
Image Note: This image is chosen because it was the first of the 14 movies to be filmed.
Joel’s Comments:
Basil Rathbone was a superb Holmes from his strong nose to his unique intelligence playing the detective. However, Nigel Bruce’s bumbling Watson lets these down for me as he was Doyle’s narrator and easily the equal of his partner in the books and stories. There is a certain 1940s charm to these stories despite the fact that none of them were filmed in London.
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The Hound of The Baskervilles
Notable Cast: Peter Cushing, Andre Morell and Christopher Lee.
Studio: Hammer Film Productions.
Year: 1959.
Notes: This the first time the novel was filmed in colour.
Joel’s Comments:
Cushing made for a wonderfully flawed Holmes in this Hammer adaptation of Doyle’s famous tale while Morrell was an inspired choice as his sidekick Watson. A suitably gothic onscreen retelling of perhaps Holmes’ best-known story, Fisher brought his usual flair for technicolor, uniquely British filmmaking to bear here.
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The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes
Notable Cast: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Christopher Lee.
Studio: Compton Films and I.A.L. Diamond
Year: 1970.
Notes: Co written Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond and directed by Wilder.
Sherlock Holmes And The Empire Builders creators’ comments:
Wilder’s portrayal of the great detective gave us something truly unique with Stephens as a particularly louche and degraded Holmes and Stock as the perfect choice for Watson. The director utilises its settings like Loch Ness to offer the viewer a Holmes tale we had never seen before.
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Sherlock Holmes (BBC)
Notable Cast: Douglas Wilmer, Peter Cushing, Nigel Stock.
Broadcaster: BBC1.
Years: 1965-1968.
Notes: This adaptation featured 29 episodes. Peter Cushing took over in role of Holmes towards the end of the series run in 1968.
Joel’s Comments:
I admit I have never seen any episodes of this so I can’t comment but Cushing was a great choice in Hound Of The Baskervilles so I am sure they are worth checking out.
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Notable Cast: Jeremy Brett, David Burke, Edward Hardwick.
Broadcaster: ITV / Granada Television.
Years: 1984-1994
Notes: This adaptation ran for 4 series, with 41 episodes that included 5 feature length specials. The prefix of the series altered slightly with each series.
Joel’s comments:
Brett was arguably the greatest Holmes on TV or film, bringing that razor-sharp intelligence to bear combined with that sense that the character didn’t quite fit with the rest of society. Edward Hardwicke, who joined the show with the second series, had that cerebral quality that Watson required and throughout its run including its follow-up in the 1990s, it was one of ITV’s high watermarks for TV drama.
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The Great Mouse Detective
Notable Cast: Vincent Price, Barrie Ingram.
Studio: Walt Disney.
Year: 1986.
Notes: Also released as Basil The Great Mouse Detective. So named in memory of Basil Rathbone. Based on the series of books Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus and Paul Galdone.
Joel’s Comments:
I have never seen this so I’m afraid I can’t comment on it.
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Holmes and Watson
Notable Cast: Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.
Studio: Columbia Pictures.
Year: 2018.
Notes: The film was critically panned, and was a spectacular box office failure.
Joel’s Comments:
I have never sat through this but I hear it’s particularly awful and I don’t have enough curiosity to subject myself to it either.
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There are many more adaptations that could have been discussed, and perhaps a follow up article may a possibility later in 2026. For now, please remember a collected edition of Parts One and Two of Sherlock Holmes and The Empire Builders will be released in 2026.
Here are the details:
Available to order from Simon and Schuster online here
176 pages with a brand new wraparound cover from Eisner winning artist Laurence Campbell (Hellboy) and new introduction from JM DeMatteis (Kraven’s Last Hunt, Moonshadow)
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