The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

This is an 11-episode, Russian language adaptation that was produced and telecast in the erstwhile Soviet Union in 5 instalments, between 1979 and 1986.  It’s a thoughtful, painstakingly crafted production with a distinctive take on Holmes and his relationship with Watson.  In a nutshell: I think it’s marvellous. 

Compared to the most popular portrayals of Holmes, this imagines him as more down-to-earth and less hyper.  I guess the idea was also to avoid flashiness: something that has come to characterize the most well-known portrayals.  His relationship with Watson is one of deep mutual respect, and affection: he isn’t a sidekick.

The lack of flashiness is also evident in the narrative as well as the design.  But there is no mistaking the attention to detail.  You see it in the costumes, the interiors, the landscapes (it was shot in Riga), and the sound design. 

There’s also something else that one might little expect- a dash of humour, especially in how some of the characters are imagined.  Not in the case of Moriarty, though, let me hasten to add- that portrayal is chillingly sinister.

While the series is generally faithful to the stories/ books, some episodes mix a couple of stories together.   In addition, the first episode takes its time to set up the relationship between Holmes and Watson.  Here’s a link that lists the episodes (matched with the stories/ books).

The series is freely available on the YouTube channel of Lenfilm. 

Fun facts:

• A statue of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, as played by the actors, Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin, in this series, has been erected in Moscow near the British embassy.
• For his portrayal of Holmes, Livanov was appointed an Honorary MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire).
• To commemorate the 120th anniversary of the first Sherlock Holmes novel, the Cook Islands produced a set of 4 silver coins featuring colour vignettes from this series.