Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (2004) (TV)

Director:

Simon Cellan Jones

Writers:

Allan Cubitt (writer)
Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)

Release Date:

26 December 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot:

A serial killer stalking the teen-aged daughters of the aristocracy brings Sherlock Holmes out of his drug-filled semi-retirement. |

Plot Keywords:

Funeral | Shopgirl | Silk Stockings | Shock | Debutante

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Rupert Everett	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nicholas Palliser	...	Dr. Dunwoody
Neil Dudgeon	...	Lestrade
Ian Hart	...	Dr. Watson
Anne Carroll	...	Mrs. Hudson (as Anne Caroll)
Tamsin Egerton	...	Miranda Helhoughton
Perdita Weeks	...	Roberta Massingham
Jennifer Moule	...	Georgina Massingham
Eleanor David	...	Mary Pentney
John Cunningham	...	Bates
Michael Fassbender	...	Charles Allen
Jonathan Hyde	...	George Pentney
Gina Beck	...	Maid
Helen McCrory	...	Mrs. Vandeleur
Andrew Wisher	...	Constable (as Andy Wisher)

Also Known As:

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:15 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Tiger Aspect Productions

Trivia:

Daniel Webb played Lestrade in Hound Of The Baskervilles but was not available to play the role again

Goofs:

Anachronisms: A family in mourning for the loss of a daughter would not be attending a formal ball within days of her death.

Quotes:

Dr. Watson: Once again, Holmes, you've deliberately held me at arm's length. I really think you might treat me with a little more frankness.
Sherlock Holmes: My profession would be a drab and sordid one, Watson, if I did not sometimes set the scene to glorify the results.
Dr. Watson: You have a peculiar secretive streak in you, Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes: The only safe plotter is he who plots alone.
Dr. Watson: Thank you for that vote of confidence.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Time Shift: A Study in Sherlock" (2007)

Superb Acting; Trite Script

Rupert Everett has the aquiline profile and world-weary vocal delivery that are necessities for a screen Holmes, but he (and the excellent actors around him) are hamstrung by a cliché- ridden script. Sherlock Holmes, telling Watson to "keep your breath to cool your porridge"?? The last two times I heard that expression on screen were both in adaptations of Pride and Prejudice--and I certainly mean no disrespect to either of them. Holmes is also made to deploy a Mary Poppins aphorism about pie crusts and promises--perhaps you remember it from your childhood Disney viewing.

This is a good-looking production (apart from the occasional wobble from the annoyingly popular unsteadicam), though I have it on good authority that London fog did not swirl rapidly around the lampposts and chimneypots. Beautifully designed interiors include a Duchess' drawing room, a Victorian graveyard, an underground lair of the villain (he always has a lair, doesn't he), and a ceramic-tiled morgue. Costumes are in a muted color palette of cream, black, olive green, and brown, and the girls in their costumes for a classical tableau look as if they have stepped out of a Alma-Tadema painting.

In addition to Everett as Holmes, the production is graced with a uniformly strong cast. Ian Hart brings an acerbic vigor to the role of Dr. Watson, and Neil Dudgeon injects Lestrade with some humor. The superb Helen McCrory, as Watson's American fiancée, initially appears brash and pushy (she calls Holmes "Sherlock" throughout, even though his best friend Watson invariably calls him by his last name), an often-observed trait of American women in British film/TV productions, but she is too good an actress to keep to that one-note character. Guy Henry is disgracefully underused--give him a bigger role!

The story is a new one, which is not in itself a criticism; it is creepy and intriguing. The most glaring problem of the show is with the script; I hope that director Simon Cellan Jones continues to make more Holmes stories--but that writer Allan Cubitt will not.