Who is your favourite Holmes?

I once heard someone say on a documentary that "your first Sherlock Holmes is always your favourite". Similar sentiments have been expressed when it comes to other famous characters such as Doctor Who and James Bond or indeed any that have been portrayed by a number of actors. However is it true?

For me at least, the answer is no (and for all the examples).

[image error] The first Holmes I saw was Basil Rathbone's and I have considerable affection for him. I owe him my entire Sherlockian career (such as it is) as without him there is no guarantee that I would have become interested in Holmes at all. However I will never claim that he is my favourite or the best. As I pointed out in my earlier post, I consider his performance to have been damaged, if only a little, by that of Nigel Bruce.



[image error] For people who were children in the sixties a popular choice for best Holmes is Douglas Wilmer. This is an opinion shared by many in the upper echelons of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London. For those of us who came along later it is difficult to judge Wilmer as his outings are simply not shown and are nigh on impossible to obtain (they are I believe available on DVD in the US). Those of us in the UK (without multi-region players) can only catch parts via Youtube (and this may be legally dubious). I have not watched much but while the scripts seem good they just don't work for me. The dreaded spectre of personal taste rears its head again.



[image error] For most of us born in the 70s and later the ultimate Holmes is Jeremy Brett. For me personally it is because I was already interested in Holmes when the Granada series first aired and also because he was the first canonically accurate Holmes I had seen. It was his performance that enabled me to finally get through the written canon. He unlocked the stories for me and that is no exaggeration.

For later generations the appeal of Brett lies in the fact that, alongside Rathbone, he is the Holmes to be repeated most often on television so he is a familiar face even to Holmes fans not yet born when the series first aired.

The absence of a proper Holmes series since then has made it hard for any other actor to really lay claim to the Holmes crown. The new BBC series is good and the performances of the two leads are excellent but, in my opinion, the crown for the best Holmes can only ever be worn by a canonically and chronologically accurate Holmes. Until we get another one of those I feel that Mr Brett's crown is secure.

Let me know what you think?