Sherlock Holmes

We are inevitably offered too many repeats on television. However, I hasten to add that many of them are of exceedingly good, not to say superb, productions.

One admirable, classic production I never tire of watching occasionally is The Return Of Sherlock Holmes on ITV3. The episode last night was entitled The Empty House, the tale of how Holmes cheated death during a fatal struggle with his arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls.

Surely the late Jeremy Huggins Brett is now the definitive Sherlock Holmes? Appearances can be deceptive: although Brett appeared fit and healthy, he was a heavy smoker throughout his life and this was aggravated by a chronically weak heart. These facts were compounded by manic depression and, sadly, Brett died prematurely at the age of sixty-one.