The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series) The Blue Carbuncle (1984) User Reviews

Part of my Christmas ritual

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 28 August 2016]

For as long as I can remember I've spent a day before Christmas, wrapping presents, sherry, and a seasonal playlist. Part of that will forever be the Blue Carbuncle. It's a fabulous episode, it ranks among the very best, it's a fairly simple tail, The Countess of Morcar has her prized possession stolen from her hotel room, a glorious jewel steeped in blood, the fabulous 'blue carbuncle,' and someone in her employ has found an ingenious way of purloining it.

It's a glorious story, lacking any deep or dark overtures, the tone is almost whimsical, particularly in comparison to the previous episode 'The Speckled band.' Nevertheless it is clever, engaging and almost heart warming, even Holmes enters somewhat into the Christmas spirit.

Rosalind Knight does a great job playing the Countess, she adds a wonderful amount of pomposity and aristocracy, a truly skillful actress who's been in the business for so long, from the dark eyed beauty in Carry on Teacher to the hilarious Mrs Cresswell in Only fools episode 'The Jolly Boy's outing.'

All in all it's one of my favourites, very much recommended, it's very easy viewing. 9/10

Christmas Episode

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 7 November 2009]

If The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes were broadcast in America first, this would have debuted at Christmas time rather than in June of 1984 when it did. Arthur Conan Doyle might very well have been influenced by that other immortal English writer Charles Dickens when he wrote the Blue Carbuncle.

The Blue Carbuncle is not some ugly growth on someone, but a rare and priceless blue diamond which some opportunistic thieves stole from the Duchess of Moncor. The only part of the crime that went well was that the blame got placed on some guy who had a criminal record, but was innocent of this caper.

When Holmes and Watson are called in the trail of the missing gem leads to some very interesting places and where the jewel wound up is pretty funny. And how it got there is a testimony to the quick, but faulty thinking of the real perpetrator. But as I said the perpetrator was not very bright.

The thing to remember is that it is Christmas time when this case occurs and that fact enters into Holmes's thinking when he finds the perpetrator. What to do with this fool, let's just say that Christmas enters his thinking.

You won't believe where the jewel was hidden.

Wonderful Christmas Episode

[ericksonsam60 · 8/10 · 30 January 2012]

This is one of Arthur Conan Doyle's popular Holmes mysteries and it is beautifully and tightly brought on screen. A delight from beginning to end. It features a nice Christmas setting, clever mystery, and a very satisfying ending. The production and photography are as usual splendid. Even Brett's performance is especially in this one, is excellent with him having Holmes at his snooty, twitchy best, I just love the scene where Holmes makes deductions about the black hat in the beginning of the show. Also, Holmes and Watson have great camaraderie in this one too as well, as I always enjoy their banter. In my opinion, this marvelous episode shows Granada and Conan Doyle at the top of their form.

A Christmas Delight

[james_oblivion · 10/10 · 11 October 2007]

No Christmas season would be complete without watching this marvelous adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Blue Carbuncle.

This is such a wonderful episode that descriptions tend to fail me. Everything and everyone is at peak form here. Jeremy Brett's performance as Holmes is absolutely delightful (even by Brett standards), as is Burke's Watson, and their interplay in this episode is among the very best in the series.

There is a great deal of humor to be found here, including some genuine laugh-out-loud moments...and, of course, a nice little mystery at the heart of it. The production design, as always, is excellent, and the direction top-notch. There is a very authentic feeling of Christmas here, and it really shines through. And it's nice to see that even the dour Sherlock Holmes has a bit of the Christmas spirit in him...in his own way.

A wonderful episode, from start to finish. I can't praise it enough. I could say more, I could be more specific, but I don't want to ruin the fun for any first-time viewers. See it for yourself and it will quickly become a Christmas tradition, as it has for me.

A Holiday Treat

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 5 February 2014]

This is an episode that surpasses the original Conan-Doyle story. Not to diminish the master's work, it's just that the screenwriter took the original, extrapolated from it, and gave us a lovely holiday story. This, of course, has to do with the disappearance of a monumentally expensive gem that has passed through many hands and, ultimately, down the gullet of a Christmas goose. The joy comes from the classic efforts of the characters to retrieve the stolen article and the lengths to which they will go. We are caught up in the thing because we don't want anyone hurt and we want so badly for the family man to come out on top. The term "wild goose chase" was invented for this episode which unfolds nicely. One thing I enjoyed about the Holmes stories is that the crime isn't always murder. There is frequently a humorous side (often at Watson's expense) that probably made the stories more endearing to the readers. The chaotic nature of the story, the initial hopelessness, and, finally, joy, are what make "The Blue Carbuncle" worth the effort. As usual, Jeremy Brett and David Burke are splendid as are the cast of character actors that pass through this.

One of the best of the entire Granada series

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 13 May 2012]

How can I add to the previous reviews, as they have said a lot of what is so good about The Blue Carbuncle so excellently? This is a truly brilliant episode and among the best of the entire Granada Sherlock Holmes series, of which there are several standouts(The Crooked Man, The Devil's Foot, Sign of Four, Hound of the Baskervilles, The Master BlackMailer, The Speckled Band, The Cardboard Box, The Norwood Builder, The Final Problem and The Dying Detective). The story always was one of Conan Doyle's best, and it in adaptation-form is still as clever and compelling as ever. The script is sophisticated with delightful bouts of humour as well, while with the evocative atmosphere, almost cinematic photography and incredibly well-detailed costumes and sets the episode is so well made and the music is haunting and almost melancholic. Jeremy Brett never put a foot wrong, and he is as ever commanding here. David Burke gives his personal best performance of Adventures as a thoughtful and composed Watson, and their scenes here are some of the finest Holmes-Watson scenes of the entire series. All in all, one of my favourites and one of the best too, simply fantastic. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Even Holmes appears to be in the holiday spirit.

[kfo9494 · 9/10 · 14 October 2013]

It is always nice to have seasonal themes and in this episode Christmas is alive and well in the streets of very late 19th century London. And at 221 1/2 Baker Street, Holmes is investigating, rather coyly, why a value gem has appeared in the guts of a Christmas goose.

The gem has been stolen from a wealthy widow and it is believed that a local plumber is the bandit. He has already been arrested and placed in jail. But with the stolen gem turning up in such as odd place, Holmes will investigate this case leaving no goose uncooked.

The story is wonderfully written and takes us, as viewers, into many different places as we track the goose's previous path along with Holmes and Dr Watson. But it will be an advertisement that will close this mystery and set the holiday season back into motion. Another fine episode as we close out the first season. Good watch.

The mysterious ending.

[seahark-57789 · 19 February 2019]

Wonderful! The question remains. How do Holmes and Watson spring Horner from jail without giving up the carbuncle or giving up Ryder?

The Blue Carbuncle

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 3 February 2019]

As we see from the opening scenes. The Blue Carbuncle has been associated with death.

The Countess of Morcar is staying in a hotel and her valuable jewel, the Blue Carbuncle has been stolen while she was out Christmas shopping. A workman with a criminal record has been arrested for the theft.

Holmes meanwhile is on a wild goose chase. The Commissioner approaches him with a goose and a hat. A man who was being pushed about by some ruffians dropped it and ran off with it.

Holmes has fun describing to Watson, the character of the man who possessed such a hat.

It later transpired that the goose contained the valuable jewel in its gullet.

Holmes and Watson now need to find out how it got there and free an innocent man. First they need to find out who the goose was actually destined to go to.

This story has a festive setting. How the two stories get to intertwine was very well done. It offers some good moments of character acting. Frank Middlemass, Frank Mills, Ken Campbell all get a chance to shine.

The Best of the Best

[chris-17468 · 10/10 · 19 January 2022]

This is, in my view, probably the best of an excellent series. Although the basic premise of the story, that the world's greatest consulting detective should, by complete chance, come into possession of a recently-stolen priceless gemstone, is rather far-fetched, that is the premise on which Conan Doyle based his story and so it is the burden under which the screenwriters, director, and cast have to labour. And labour they do, with magnificent results!

Jeremy Brett is at his most Holmesian, portraying the great man's idiosyncracies with remarkable effect. Aroused from sleep by Mrs Hudson, and clearly in a bad temper as a result, he stumbles into the living room in search of matches where Peterson, whose presence he has obviously forgotten in the several seconds since Mrs Hudson told him he was there, startles him. The expressions on Brett's face as Holmes goes from surprise to polite charm, whilst trying not to pass through visible annoyance on the way, are a delight. Although feeling (perhaps genuinely) that he should be polite to Peterson, whom he knows, he shows no such qualms when talking to Mr Henry Baker, whom he dismisses with an airy wave of his hand, leaving Watson to politely show him out. The interchange between Holmes and Watson when discussing the hat is among the best of the series, with David Burke as Watson at his most indulgently sceptical of his friend's deductions.

The supporting cast are especially impressive. Rosalind Knight creates a particularly loathsome Countess of Morcar. Her every whim pandered to by liveried flunkeys to the extent that she doesn't even have to open doors or carry parcels for herself, she still complains that "I do find preparing for Christmas quite an ordeal", and the aura of wealthy, privileged entitlement and contempt for the lower classes who serve her which she radiates is enough to make one wonder, just for a moment, whether communism might not be such a bad idea after all. Eric Allan brings a fine portrayal of Breckendridge, an honest poultry dealer provoked beyond endurance by repeated questions about a goose, whose anger is channelled first into the opportunity to take a sovereign off Holmes in the form of a bet which he knows from the outset he'll win, and then into chasing Ken Campbell's James Ryder off with a broom. (There's a slight plot hole at this point; the reason Holmes knew he could lure Breckendridge into giving him the information he wanted by means of an invented wager was because his whiskers and the copy of the "Sporting Life" in his pocket showed him to be a betting man. This is explained in the book, but although the character is indeed carrying a copy of the paper in his pocket it's not referred to, so the reason for the ploy of the bogus wager may be lost on some of the audience who haven't read the original). Frank Middlemass gives a very sympathetic performance as Henry Baker, a man of learning fallen on hard times, and the aforementioned Ken Campbell does a good job of the snivelling James Ryder, whose scheme for fabulous stolen wealth has come so spectacularly unravelled.

The whole series is excellent, to the extent that no-one else needs to bother trying to do Sherlock Holmes any more - Jeremy Brett's done it. The characterisations in this episode, and the interplay between them, make The Blue Carbuncle the best of the best.

A Sherlockian Christmas

[CartlinK · 7/10 · 19 November 2019]

The story of the Blue Carbuncle and ultimate solution are top notch, it's just the acting of some of the bit parts that let things down. Particularly at the beginning, which makes it hard to get into until the action starts. I'm not sure what the actress that played the countess was on at the time, but she seemed likely she wasn't even trying or that she was 1/2 asleep. Was the monotone she used a deliberate choice, or did she regret taking the part so much, she couldn't even be bothered. Perhaps it was all done deliberately, but everything about her performance made it seem like someone writing it in.

The rest of the episode is amazing. The innocent former thief, trying to give his family a good Christmas, only to be unjustly accused. An actual GOOSE being a major plot point is so amusingly different, you have to appreciate it.

You also have to as always, give the show massive props for their realistic portrayal of Victorian Britain. It's fabulous wealth, along side middle class and poor, it's dirty and gritty, its chaotic. Every detail is seen to, costumes, hair, background action, the set design. It's the way television is MEANT to be seen.

It's A Wonderful Carbuncle

[grantss · 10/10 · 22 November 2022]

The Blue Carbuncle is a large, extremely valuable gemstone owned by the Countess of Morcar. To her horror she finds that it has been stolen. To Sherlock Holmes's surprise he finds himself in possession of it, via a Christmas goose. Tracing the previous owners of the goose Holmes sets out to find out who stole the Blue Carbuncle.

A wonderful Christmas episode of Sherlock Holmes, one of the best, if not THE best, episodes of the show. There's a very interesting mystery, solved by tracing the path of a goose. The perpetrator is a bit obvious but in the grand scheme of things this is a minor negative.

Moreover, there is a great Christmas "vibe" to proceedings, making it a great episode to watch at that time of the year. Even rational, curmudgeonly Holmes gets into the spirit of things. On that note, we do see a more friendly, common man representation of Holmes in this episode and it is very refreshing.

Not a Good Mystery

[Warin_West-El · 5/10 · 23 August 2023]

This is a Christmas story pretending to be a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The positive thing I can say is the production level was impressive. The village scenes especially were designed with care and detail.

However the story itself was hobbled by the restraint of trying to exude a holiday theme. Pretty much all of the characters were of the type you would expect to encounter in a Dickens novel.

The filmmakers decided to keep everything light, so no one is murdered or even injured. Rather, a jewel is stolen and the opening sequence goes out of its way to telegraph who the thieves will turn out to be. Essentially, this is less of a mystery and more along the lines of a treasure hunt.

I found the ending to be quite peculiar. Holmes and Dr Watson sit down to eat. Suddenly they decide to first go to the police station and inform them they have the wrong man behind bars.

Then we cut to the hokey scene of the freed suspect reuniting with his children and wife while Christmas music plays. Everything in this episode took a backseat to Christmas, including the story.

It's a bonny thing.

[rmax304823 · 8/10 · 18 March 2010]

One of the better stories, made into one of the better episodes.

Someone brings Holmes and Watson a Christmas goose and a felt hat that were left on the street after a scuffle. Holmes sits contemplating the hat and Watson rags him a little about all the "deductions" he's making from the ordinary hat. Watson himself, though prompted to use Holmes' methods, can get nothing from it. Holmes then casually lists all sorts of remarkable hypothetical properties of the hat's owner -- he once had foresight and was prosperous but then weakened morally (probably drink) and his wife no longer loves him and furthermore he hasn't had gas laid on in his home. When the owner, Mr. Henry Baker, shows up to claim the goose and the hat, Holmes' deductions prove correct. Naturally. Is he ever wrong? However, the goose's innards contain an extremely valuable precious stone -- the fabulous Blue Carbuncle, recently stolen.

The dynamic duo track down the amateur thief and get his story of how the stone came to be in the craw. Then Holmes dismisses the miscreant, figuring that although he is committing a felony (in the story, it was "compounding" a felony) he may be saving a soul. Besides, it's Christmas Eve and the spirit of forgiveness is in the air.

I've always enjoyed this story -- used to read it every Christmas -- because although it's about the holidays in a way, the holidays are in no way sentimentalized. Christmas crops up now and again, edging sideways into the dialog, but nothing much is made of it.

Besides, apart from his letting the thief go, Holmes is as snooty as ever. And Jeremy Brett takes that aloofness and runs with it. Eg., when Henry Baker is leaving 221B with his goose and his hat, he wishes Holmes a Merry Christmas. Holmes is in his chair, looking at the floor, and without replying he dismisses Baker and his felicitations with an icy wave of the hand. It's in a episode like this, too, that a viewer notices the differences between David Burke, as a more animated Dr. Watson, and Edward Hardwicke, who followed him in the role and brought to it a greater distance from events.

It's mentioned when the name Henry Baker first appears that there's no point trying to contact all the people with that name because the name itself is so common. London had a population of three million at the time. In 1978, in the San Francisco directory, I could find no Henry Bakers at all in a city of 700,000. There was some slight comfort in finding two people who were named Serene Jew.

One of the very best episodes

[milesahead1 · 10/10 · 20 December 2022]

A brilliant episode with everyone on top form. Some of the exchanges between the characters are a real hoot - the toast the academic makes when drinking with the pub landlord always raises a smile, as does the conversation between Holmes and the irritated market stall holder.

The IMDB Goofs section contributor has misunderstood the episode - spoiler follows - as Holmes clearly doesn't intend to keep the stone permanently, but just for the duration of the investigation! He uses it to draw the confession from the real culprit!

This is an episode that we watch every Christmas and it continues to delight.

"What about this gentleman's fiver?"

[suicidea · 9/10 · 15 January 2021]

An extremely rare jewel is stolen from the estate of a countess, and the police arrest the most obvious suspect: an ex-con who was doing some manual work in the estate just before the theft. However, the missing stone turns out at a most unexpected place: in the belly of a goose getting ready to be a Christmas meal. Holmes and Watson set out to find the mystery behind it.

If you can manage to ignore the ridiculously distracting eyebrows of the Ken Campbell character, this is quite a nice episode. The scene where Sherlock makes a whole series of deductions from looking a hat is one of the best. His final decision about the thief is one of the many where he takes the law into his own hands, and justifies it to Watson. A story that takes place during a Christmas, and actually has the spirit of Christmas, without hitting the audience over the head with it. Very enjoyable throughout.

Does this treatment really deal with the flaw in the plot?

[bbrooks297 · 9/10 · 28 April 2016]

As always, this surpasses the original in depth and layers of meaning. The original story, however, contains a serious flaw. (SPOILER WARNING: this concerns the solution to some degree) Holmes is seen putting the recovered gem away in a drawer, stating that he intends to keep it as a souvenir. The problem is that (1) he can't legally do this as the stone belongs to the Countess; (2) he can't exonerate the wrongly arrested man without returning the stone and (3) explaining how he came by it, which would in turn oblige him to (4) reveal THE SPOILER to the police. Subsequent showings of this episode retained the drawer shot but blanked out Holmes' line of dialog about keeping the stone, allowing viewers to infer that sooner or later he did the right thing and returned the carbuncle to its legal owner.

Excellent, but also influential

[mark_heumann · 9/10 · 22 July 2014]

1. Ken Hudson Campbell's performance as Ryder was, in my view, an inspiration for John Kavanaugh's portrayal of Jean Ramuel, the murderer, in "Maigret and the Hotel Majestic" (1984) with Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore) playing Maigret. I would love for Mr. Kavanaugh, a superb actor, to comment. 2. I watch Jim Parsons playing Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory, and I see movements, facial expressions, and gestures ALL of which I see in Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes IN THIS EPISODE. I have no doubt, of course, that Parsons draws on Holmes for his character and, in particular, on Brett's portrayal in general. The physical similarities--height and face, especially--are an invitation to imitation. Again, I would be pleased if Mr. Parsons would comment--if he hasn't already.

Utterly amoral

[the_venetian · 2/10 · 31 March 2024]

Of all the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, this one is the least satisfactory.

Although the Countess is portrayed as a rather unpleasant person, there is no indication that she came by the controversial jewel illegally. I am vexed to understand why Holmes would not return her property to her.

The innocence of Frank Middlemass' character is quickly established, and the provision of a substitute goose is in keeping with the holiday spirit of the episode. So is the promise of a.£1000 reward to the totally honest commissionaire. And the release of the innocent Horner. But the episode does not show anything but the replacement goose being offered. How, when Holmes keeps the wretched jewel, is the Countess' Christmas not to be blighted, the commissionaire to be rewarded or the innocent man to be released from prison? It's not up to the standard of the rest of this excellent series.