The Hound of London


The Hound of London is a 1993 television film directed by Peter Reynolds-Long and starring Patrick Macnee as Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes.

Plot

At the request of Inspector Lestrade, Sherlock Holmes investigates a double murder at the Strand Theatre, with the assistance of Dr John Watson.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was derived from a play written by Craig Bowlsby and first performed in September 1987 in Burnaby, British Columbia. For the film version, it was entirely recast with the exception of Colleen Bignell who played Irene Norton in the play and the Queen of Bohemia in the film.
Patrick Macnee was cast as Sherlock Holmes. Previously, Macnee had portrayed Watson three times: once to Roger Moore's Sherlock Holmes in a 1976 TV movie, Sherlock Holmes in New York and twice with Christopher Lee. This film made Macnee one of only a small number of actors to have played both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. According to Allen Eyles, actors who played both roles include Reginald Owen, Jeremy Brett, Carleton Hobbs, and Howard Marion-Crawford. There are also other actors who played both roles such as H. Lawrence Leyton, who played both on stage.

Reception

Author Alan Barnes claimed the film was "Cheap, nasty and painful to watch", and he described Macnee's Holmes as "a truly dreadful Holmes, wheezing out every line while resembling nothing less than an unshelled tortoise poured into a monkey suit."