Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery

Film

Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery
Genre	Crime Mystery
Written by	Kingsley Amis
Directed by	James Cellan Jones
Starring	Edward Fox Elaine Taylor Christopher Cazenove
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Mark Shivas
Running time	70 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	27 December 1974 (1974-12-27)

Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery is a 1974 British made-for-television mystery film directed by James Cellan Jones and starring Edward Fox as Doctor Watson.^[1]

Plot

While Sherlock Holmes is away on holiday, Watson journeys to Darkwater Hall in the Cotswolds to protect a woman's husband from harm.

Cast

Edward Fox as Dr. Watson
Elaine Taylor as Emily
Christopher Cazenove as Sir Harry
Jeremy Clyde as Miles
John Westbrook as Bradshaw
Terence Bayler as Carlos
Carmen Gómez as Dolores
Anthony Langdon as Paul "Black Paul"

Production

Filmed at Stow-on-the-Wold,^[2] Watson was portrayed as competent and intelligent^[2] as opposed to the popular idea of a bumbling character as Nigel Bruce portrayed him in an earlier series of fourteen films. He is also portrayed as a virile womanizer as the character claims to be in The Sign of the Four.^[1]^[3]

The film references A Study in Scarlet, "The Adventure of Black Peter", "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band".^[4] Fox would go on to play the character of Alistair Ross in another Sherlock Holmes pastiche, The Crucifer of Blood.^[4]

Reception

According to author Kingsley Amis, "the reviews were excellent."^[2] Alan Barnes calls the film "part-deconstruction, part-parody of Doyle" that "ends up resembling a long drawn-out shaggy dog story."^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Bunson, Matthew (1997). Encyclopedia Sherlockiana. Simon & Schuster. p. 67. ISBN 0-02-861679-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c Haining, Peter (1994). The Television Sherlock Holmes. Virgin Books. p. 72. ISBN 0-86369-793-3.
^ Eyles, Allen (1986). Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration. Harper & Row. p. 122. ISBN 0-06-015620-1.
^ ^a ^b ^c Barnes, Alan (2011). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Titan Books. pp. 54–56. ISBN 9780857687760.

External links

Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery at IMDb

Screen adaptations of Sherlock Holmes

Theatrical films

Silent

Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900)
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom (1905)
Sherlock Holmes in the Great Murder Mystery (1908)
Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes (1910)
Éclair film series (1912–1913)
Der Hund von Baskerville (1914)
Detektiv Braun (1914)
A Study in Scarlet (1914 British film)
A Study in Scarlet (1914 US film)
The Valley of Fear (1916)
Sherlock Holmes (1916)
Sherlock Holmes (1922)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1929)

Stoll series	The Dying Detective (1921) The Devil's Foot (1921) The Man with the Twisted Lip (1921) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1921) The Sign of Four (1923)

Wontner series

The Sleeping Cardinal (1931)
The Missing Rembrandt (1932)
The Sign of Four (1932)
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935)
Silver Blaze (1937)

Rathbone–Bruce
series

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
Voice of Terror (1942)
Secret Weapon (1942)
Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
The Spider Woman (1943)
The Scarlet Claw (1944)
The Pearl of Death (1944)
The House of Fear (1945)
The Woman in Green (1945)
Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
Terror by Night (1946)
Dressed to Kill (1946)

Downey series

Sherlock Holmes (2009)
A Game of Shadows (2011)

Other films

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929)
The Limejuice Mystery (1930)
The Speckled Band (1931)
Lelíček ve službách Sherlocka Holmese (1932)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1932)
Sherlock Holmes (1932)
A Study in Scarlet (1933)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1937)
The Grey Lady (1937)
The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (1937)
Deduce, You Say! (1956)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
The Deadly Necklace (1962)
A Study in Terror (1965)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
They Might Be Giants (1971)
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978)
Murder by Decree (1979)
The Case of Marcel Duchamp (1984)
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
Without a Clue (1988)
Zero Effect (1998)
A Samba for Sherlock (2001)
Case Closed: The Phantom of Baker Street (2002)
Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days (2012)
Mr. Holmes (2015)
The Empire of Corpses (2015)
Sherlock Gnomes (2018)
Holmes & Watson (2018)
Sherlock Holmes and the Great Escape (2019)

Television/
streaming/
direct-to-video

Films

Ian Richardson	The Sign of Four (1983) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)
Peter O'Toole (animated)	Sherlock Holmes and a Study in Scarlet (1983) Sherlock Holmes and the Baskerville Curse (1983) Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four (1983) Sherlock Holmes and the Valley of Fear (1983)
Vasily Livanov series	Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1979) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1980) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1981) The Treasures of Agra (1983) The Twentieth Century Approaches (1986)
Christopher Lee	The Leading Lady (1991) Incident at Victoria Falls (1992)
Matt Frewer	The Hound of the Baskervilles (2000) The Sign of Four (2001) The Royal Scandal (2001) The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002)
Ian Hart (as Watson)	The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002) The Case of the Silk Stocking (2004)
Other films	The Three Garridebs (1937) The Man Who Disappeared (1951) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972) The Longing of Sherlock Holmes (1972) Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery (1974) The Return of the World's Greatest Detective (1976) Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976) Silver Blaze (1977) The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982) The Masks of Death (1984) The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987) Hands of a Murderer (1990) The Crucifer of Blood (1991) 1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns (1993) The Hound of London (1993) Sherlock: Case of Evil (2002) Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2007) Sherlock Holmes (2010) Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes (2010)