“The little things are infinitely the most important”
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Museum Piece
Something is amiss at one of London’s top tourist attractions, The Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street, apparently.
Before you avail yourself of the story links provided, we should point out that the Museum’s claim that their site is the genuine 221B (this is not the subject of the current dispute) has no more (or no less) veracity than any of the many other identifications put forth by scholars over the years.
And there’s another point worth making, it’s about the so-called Blue Plaque on the front of the building which proclaims that this was the home of the legendary detective. In fact this is not an official Blue Plaque but was erected by the Museum’s owners some years ago.
That all said and done, here are the public accounts from the Telegraph and the Mail about the current story.
Elementary Update
Elementary resumed on Sky Living on Tuesday 26 February 2013, following a mid-season break. Here’s a chance both for a quick catch-up and a peek at this week’s episode.
Elementary is on Sky Living every Tuesday at 9pm (Sky and Virgin only). The weekly repeat is now on a Friday at 8pm (last week it was Saturday, just to be confusing).
For those who might like to know more about the show’s soundtrack, this will be music to your ears.
To get the even bigger picture, Sky Living’s Elementary page is the site to see.
If you are a fan, do get in touch with us. Or if you have given up on the show are you taking a second look? Do let us know. Last week’s episode (11/24) was a really good one, a forerunner, perhaps, of even better to come.
It’s Murdoch, Holmes & Doyle!
Episode 4 of the new Season (6) of the popular Canadian detective series Murdoch Mysteries (Monday 26 February 2013 on Alibi) was a strong Sherlock Holmes/Conan Doyle one.
A slow-burner perhaps for the first few minutes, but then it really lit-up and took off. The plot centred around a man who thought he was Sherlock Holmes, so not exactly a new concept there, and we also got a bemused Conan Doyle brought in to have a word with his creation (that’s been done before too, hasn’t it?). But original or not, none of that takes away from the fact that this was a hugely enjoyable episode, nicely worked throughout.
This series has ventured into SH/ACD territory on two previous occasions (both in Season 1), but this was by far the best of the lot. Great stuff!
The above is your website editor’s take on the episode. Is he talking through his deerstalker or making sense for once in his lunchtime? Let’s have your own take on this.
Yannick Bisson answers YOUR questions!
An Instore Story!
The ITV hit-series Mr Selfridge (Series 1, episode 7) on Sunday 17 February 2013 also had a strong Conan Doyle content. A book signing promotion brought the famous author to the high-end department store and then in a hugely original twist, Doyle persuaded the owner to let him hold a séance in the store.
You can still catch the episode on the ITV Player, for a limited period only. Please let us have your feedback on this episode.
Incidentally, John Sessions who played Doyle in the programme had two roles in the last ever Two Pipe Problems episode (I Love a Lassie) on Radio4 (see also item which follows).
A Good Life
The fulsome and richly deserved tributes paid to the actor Richard Briers who died on 2 March 2013, have roamed the length and breadth of an impressive body of work on stage, screen and radio. But nowhere, as we far as we can see, did they include a link to our own world.
We refer to Two Pipe Problems, a warm and whimsical little series of comedies which started with a pilot episode in 2007, and then ran for five series each of two episodes, from 2008 until last year on BBC Radio 4.
The setting was the Old Beeches Home for retired thespians with Richard Briars (William Parnes) and his co-star, the wonderful Stanley Baxter (Sandy Boyle) investigating a series of quirky little mysteries, drawing on their experience gained from playing Holmes and Watson together on TV back in the sixties. These were by no stretch of the imagination Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but that didn’t stop us enjoying them for what they were.
The Crew watched an episode from one of Briar’s many hit series, Ever Decreasing Circles (Series 3, episode 2) together back on 6th January 2013 at the Birthday Celebration. The excuse for showing it was that the plot included some mild detection and a nice little Sherlock quip near the end. It is also one of our Purser’s favourite comedies. But more important than all that, it was extremely funny and we all laughed a lot.
This BBC News story includes a nice picture of Richard in a deerstalker (from his Monarch of the Glen series).
The Guardian has a trip down memory lane in a life in clips.
We’ve included obituaries from the Mail, also the Independent and the Telegraph in case you missed them.
Did Sherlock Holmes exist?
This article may be 10 years old but it’s still worth reading. And yes, of course he did!
A Lowering of Standards?
How do you connect Sherlock Holmes with the recent flag controversy at Belfast City Hall? Not a problem, if you’re a blogger on the Daily Mash.
And regular Belfast Telegraph columnist Lindy McDowell has somehow managed to work Sherlock into the same subject too. We were falling over ourselves to see the Sherlock on stilts she refers to but our search for this tall story has ended, for now, in abject failure. You might say that we don’t have a leg to stand on.
What’s in a name?
No Holmes connection whatsoever with this story, but it happened to tickle our fancy. While we’re on the subject of names, one wonders if there are still “some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers” living in London? The Canonical reference is, in case you’d forgotten or didn’t know, from The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.
Going Begging
Every time we come across a beggar story, it’s hard not to think about The Man with the Twisted Lip, which sort of gives us an excuse to run this one.
Catch-up Corner!
Murder on the Victorian Railway Valid until 6 March only!
Mark Billingham’s Rule Book of Crime Broadcast on Radio4 Extra, Saturday 2 March 2013. Only 6 days left!
Miss Marple – Nemesis (1/5) Starring June Whitfield, there are only 7 days to go with this one!
NEW SEEING and OBSERVING It’s well worth a look!
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