I didn't get a proper "fix" of the late great Ian Richardson in Bleak House, though his performances there are very memorable, but sparse. Not so here! Richardson plays the real Dr. Bell, a real detecting physician in Britain, if you follow the link here, you will see how well Richardson actually favored the good doctor, well after they permed his hair anyway!
In truth, though Bell was the real inspiration for the fictional Sherlock Holmes, he didn't come by all of "his method" right on his own. I was, in fact, the great-grandson of the ground breaking Scottish physician Benjamin Bell, who is the real father of forensics, while his great grandson is considered to be the father of forensic pathology.
This is the premiere episode, really it's a movie that starred Robin Laing as the young Arthur Conan Doyle in medical school. He meets Bell in lecture hall (after an awkward anonymous encounter with him) and becomes his clark. From there he learns all about Bell "method," when prostitutes start dying or disappearing in strange ways.
Laing was replaced by actor Charles Edwards for the rest of the series, which had only 5 more episodes. Although they are based on real people, a lot of the action and narrative is fictionalized to include elements of Doyle's Holmes writings, to show inspiration for them. Some find this annoying or even disingenuous--I think it's cool. I only wish that they could have made more!
Below is the full episode
No comments:
Post a Comment