Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Sherlock Holmes, just his very name is enough to bring a smile of satisfaction to the millions of fans of the science of deduction. Whether in the abundance of stories created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, including the classics The Sign of Four, The Red Headed League and the gothic horror The Hound of The Baskervilles or in the many film adaptations staring such luminaries as Basil Rathbone, Roger Moore, Robert Downey Jr. and Peter Cushing. There have been the very successful early stage production or in the television series’ that has caught the public imagination starring Jeremy Brett or Benedict Cumberbatch, everybody who has ever enjoyed the detective has a point of view on him and the many faces he has worn.
As the current series of the 21st Century update of the man from 221B Baker Street comes to an end, viewers were treated to a glimpse into the world of the story of those who played the detective on screen in Timeshift: How to Be Sherlock Holmes, The Many Faces of A Master Detective. With contributions from the likes of film legend Christopher Lee, who has the unique perspective of playing both Mycroft Holmes and the inheritor of woes in The Hound of The Baskervilles, Nicholas Meyer, who penned the rather brilliant The Seven Per Cent Solution and Mark Gatiss who co-created the latest version of Sherlock with Steven Moffat and which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, this was the closest that fans of the consulting detective could get to having every single egg in their basket looked over, scrutinised and explained by those who know him best in one place.
This was not just a look at the evolution of the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the rise of the man who went beyond the dirt of the street, the enclosing fog of Victorian London, who helped in the fight against Nazi Germany and rather incredibly helped the bastion of American freedom, Superman, in one of his many comic appearances, this was a celebration of one of the finest British literary creations of all-time; a chance to revel in the Sherlock Holmes you grew up with and to admit just how important this creation was.
There are very few definitive true detectives that have captured the attention of the public world- wide, perhaps Hercule Poirot as portrayed by David Suchet comes close, but Sherlock Holmes is the true master, the arm-chair detectives’ detective and in Timeshift: How to Be Sherlock Holmes, The Many Faces of A Master Detective, the nature of the man, the character of the detective, for all his faults and wisdom, his abuse of cocaine and his faultless observation, go hand in hand throughout three different centuries.
Ian D. Hall