Silver Blaze

"That was the curious incident..."

This thirty minute curiosity is a one-off, produced in November 1977 under the auspices of an anthology programme, The Sunday Drama. It's an adaptation of what, I believe, is considered to be one of the more cleverly plotted of Conan Doyle's short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.

I won't discuss the plot here- either it will be familiar to you, or I'll risk spoilers. I'll confine myself to saying that this is a very faithful, straightforward version, and very well done indeed, with some nice visual touches- the exposition at the start is done with an admirable economy, in particular. It's an excellent version of the tale.

Thorley Walters is a perfectly good Watson, if a little traditional. But the real standout is Christopher Plummer as Holmes. I've seen his only other attempt at the role, in the slightly later film Murder by Decree. But, unlike that film, this is a faithfully and straightforwardly written version of the character, and allows Plummer to show what he can truly do with the part. He doesn't disappoint, showing us a playful yet focused Holmes.

I had to roll my eyes at the predictable pipe and deerstalker, but I enjoyed this little curiosity very much.

Jack the Ripper: Panic

 "... and by that I mean the City of Oporto the port, not the City of Oporto, the ship."#

Ahem. Sorry, but this series is a Class A drug. I keep having to see the next one. I will continue with the other stuff I'm blogging, but it's getting hard to akternate as I'm getting so bloody addicted.

Things slow down a bit this episode as we explore the immediate reaction to both the murders and the failings of the police, both in Whitechapel and more widely. The format works really well here, with texts read out by actors portraying those writing them. This allows us to appreciate the pathos and the reality, These were people living not all that long ago, and not so very different from ourselves. The details of Mary Kelly's funeral are heartbreaking.

There's some dark comedy and some mockery of the casual racism of the time ("The Portuguese are notoriously darkened, villainous creatures"), and also an examination of the public fury against both the hapless Home Secretary in Salisbury's Government and the hopeless Sir Charles Warren, whose defence of this decision to wipe away the "Juwes" graffito- to prevent anti-Semitic violence- is almost convincing.

This episode essentially takes a break from the mystery and excitement in order to remind us of the human side of all this. Yes, it slows things down. But it's the right thing to do.

Jack the Ripper: Double Event

 "Good at stopping riots, bad ar catching Rippers!"

The second episode is as gripping as the first, with the conceit of Barlow and Watt simply discussing things intelligently being utterly spellbinding television. Once again, this is a drama that does the job of a documentary, but the personalities of our two protagonists add so much more. We even get a dig, this being 1973, of Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher's recent milk snatching antics.

We follow on from the first two murders by looking up at the killing of "Long Liz" Stride, where the Ripper was interrupted, and the immediately following murder of Kate Eddoes, where the Ripper's grisly modus operandi was in full effect. There's much to interest us, from an analysis of descriptions to suggest the Ripper's appearance to speculation that he may not have been left handed after all.

Much is made of the distinction between the area covered by the Metropolitan Police, run by the authoritarian martinet Sir Charles Warren, he of Bloody Sunday the previous year, and the City of London Police, under Major Henry Smith, a seemingly more eloquent and thoughtful character.

Yet we end with something truly extraordinary as the pair discuss the famous graffito "the Juwes are the men who will not be blamed for nothing". The unusual spelling "Juwes" is said to refer to freemasonry, something familiar to those of us who have read Alan Moore's From Hell.... yet this idea is supposed to have begun with Stephen Knight's famous 1976 book. This is three years earlier, when the freemasonry suggestion was not supposed to have been posited. Wow.

I know: I'm supposed to be blogging The Defenders. Next blog post, honest. But I just couldn't wait.