Basil Rathbone was, I thought, an excellent Sherlock Holmes. After reading some of Doyle, I was not real happy with the way Nigel Bruce played Watson. Watson was no dummy, by any means, but Nigel Bruce played him as if he had hardly enough brain power to tie his own shoes. I always wondered why someone a sharp as Holmes picked such a bumbling fuddy-duddy as a sidekick. I always liked Bruce as an actor, but as Watson, he didn't quite cut it for me.

I think my favorite Holmes within recent years is the late Jeremy Brett. Quirky, cantankerous, arrogant, and egotistical. But who else had as quick a mind as he did? Edward Hardwicke played a pretty sharp Watson, who may not have spotted things quite as quickly as Holmes, but he was not far behind.

Don Firth