{"id":10827,"date":"2024-02-14T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10827"},"modified":"2026-01-04T13:26:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:26:54","slug":"whos-the-best-holmes-and-watson-on-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10827","title":{"rendered":"Who’s the Best Holmes and Watson On-Screen?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I asked this question of a certain kind of Sherlock Holmes expert: people who write stories in the Conan Doyle tradition. Quite a few contemporary writers take inspiration from Victorian England, Holmes\u2019s wide-ranging if idiosyncratic erudition, and Watson\u2019s genial writing style. I\u2019ve had three such stories published and can attest to how much fun it is to don another writer\u2019s hounds tooth suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writers whose picks for best on-screen Holmes\/Watson portrayals all appear in Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mystery 1885<\/a><\/em>, published last December by Belanger Books. Many of them have written a number of Doyle pastiches, and in the coming weeks, I\u2019ll say more about why and how. They\u2019ve generously shared their love of Holmesiana with me\u2014and now you. *=one vote<\/p>\n\n\n

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*Basil Rathbone\/Nigel Bruce
<\/em>The 14 Hollywood films in this series are the classic of classics, released between 1939 and 1946, and the vehicle by which Americans first developed a relationship with an on-screen Holmes and Watson. Thus, \u201cfor tradition\u2019s sake, maybe Rathbone-Bruce have the edge,\u201d says author Hassan Akram. My own quibble with this series are well put by David Marcum, who says, \u201cBasil Rathbone would be my favorite Holmes if he wasn\u2019t saddled with Boobus Brittanicus<\/em> Nigel Bruce, who was not<\/em> Watson.\u201d If you\u2019ve seen the Rathbone\/Bruce Hound of the Baskervilles <\/em>[1939], you\u2019ll know what he means.<\/p>\n\n\n

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***Jeremy Brett\/David Burke\/Edward Harwicke
<\/em>In this Granada Television series, which over its 41 episodes (1984 – 1994) involved two actors in the Watson role, is the favorite of DJ Tyrer. \u201cNot only does Jeremy Brett fit very closely to how I imagine Holmes,\u201d he says, \u201cbut the series is a faithful adaptation, adding to the illusion.\u201d George Gardner also favored this series, noting Watson\u2019s direct voice and Brett\u2019s \u201cmanic edge.\u201d When he was writing, \u201cit was Jeremy Brett\u2019s Holmes that I saw.\u201d Author Shelby Phoenix couldn\u2019t be clearer: \u201cIt\u2019s Jeremy Brett and David Burke all the way.\u201d David Marcum takes exception. He says, Brett \u201cdid not play Holmes\u2014he played himself, foisting his own physical and mental illnesses on the character.\u201d (Brett took lithium to control his bipolar disorder, and the medication affected his health and appearance.)<\/p>\n\n\n

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**Robert Downey, Jr.\/Jude Law<\/em>
George Jacobs admits to missing the classic duos and to admiring the films featuring Robert Downey, Jr., and Jude Law from 2009 and 2011 (directed by Guy Ritchie ). Their \u201cmodern take\u201d also appeals to Gustavo Bondoni, and Shelby Phoenix calls them \u201can iconic version.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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**Benedict Cumberbatch\/Martin Freeman
<\/em>This four-season BBC series (airing 2010-2017) is a tight runner-up for author Hassan Akram, and Kevin Thornton says Cumberbatch is \u201cThe only [Holmes] who has energized me enough in the last twenty years to sit and watch him,\u201d suggesting an interesting tension between historical and contemporary influences in his creative process! The tabloids suggest the series would have gone on longer if the two stars had gotten along. It\u2019s my current favorite, too, admitting great admiration for Martin Freeman. Interestingly, the producers image of Holmes was as a \u201chigh functioning sociopath.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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*Johnny Lee Miller\/Lucy Liu
<\/em>Here\u2019s an unconventional choice. George Jacobs, who admits to missing the classics, found that the CBS series, Elementary<\/em>, with 154 episodes that aired from 2012 to 2019, \u201chad the best friendship chemistry and kept Holmes\u2019s demons without losing his intrinsic goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extra Credit
<\/em>David Marcum provides a handy list of the many other actors who he believes have successfully played the Great Detective: Arthur Wontner (in a 1930s film series, set in the 30s), Ronald Howard (1954), Douglas Wilmer (in a 1964 – 1965 BBC series), Peter Cushing (a continuation of the BBCseries, airing in 1968), and Ian Richardson (1983). That Holmes has appeared in so many notable productions is irrefutable evidence of his lasting appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, who\u2019s your<\/em> favorite? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo of Benedict Cumberbatch by Fat Les, cc by 2.0<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I asked this question of a certain kind of Sherlock Holmes expert: people who write stories in the Conan Doyle tradition. Quite a few contemporary writers take inspiration from Victorian England, Holmes\u2019s wide-ranging if idiosyncratic erudition, and Watson\u2019s genial writing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Authors of Sherlock Holmes mysteries weigh in on their favorite Holmes-Watson duos on-screen. Who's yours?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[269,440,1335,61,56,57,67,104],"tags":[471,2153,294,2154,2157,2156,275],"class_list":["post-10827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actor","category-adventure","category-amateur-detective","category-character","category-film","category-movies","category-television","category-the-morgue","tag-arthur-conan-doyle","tag-basil-rathbone","tag-benedict-cumberbatch","tag-jeremy-brett","tag-johnny-lee-miller","tag-robert-downey-jr","tag-sherlock-holmes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2OD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10833,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10827\/revisions\/10833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}