"We must not confuse the unlikely with the impossible."
This episode is... well, not bad, but disposable. It's well made, produced, shot and (mostly) acted, but this is not one of my favourite Conan Doyle short stories. The initial premise- a house guest (splendidly dressed in Victorian pyjames and one of those pointy hats for sleeping in) wakes to find himself alone in the house- is intriguing, but the resolution (the machinations of a deposed former Central American dictator) seem to owe little to the beginning.
Still, any episode of this programme is bound to be entertaining, and both Brett and Hardwicke are, as ever, outstanding. Freddie Jones gives a bizarrely mannered performance as this episode's inspector- are we supposed to admire his skill, as per the short story, or patronise him? It's an odd way to portray Inspector Baynes, the only police detective to have ever matched Holmes. Yet the Victorian locations are superbly shot and done, as ever, with plenty of period detail.
There's also a piece of period dialogue that jars ("negroid features, mulatto-like"). Otherwise, this is hardly an episode that stands out. Still, we shouldn't expect that, and the episode is decent enough.
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