The Return of Sherlock Holmes (TV)
Encyclopedia
The Return of Sherlock Holmes was a 1987 CBS
television movie and pilot created and written by Bob Shayne involving the famous detective Sherlock Holmes
finding himself in the modern world.
) receives an unwelcome visit by a man named Small. In the ensuing struggle, a gunshot rings. Subsequently, a body is wrapped into a carpet and set alight.
Jane Watson (Margaret Colin
) works as a private detective in Boston but faces financial ruin because she approaches her job from a more humane angle - much to the dislike of her secretary, Ms Houston (Lila Kaye
) -; therefore she is eventually forced to sell the English country estate of her ancestor, Dr. Watson. She visits the old house one last time, where a lawyer hands her an envelope with detailed instructions inside. Following those instructions, Jane finds a hidden basement containing a primitive cryogenic
capsule with a man lying inside, whom she thaws up.
The man inside the capsule turns out to be her ancestor's friend and partner, the legendary Sherlock Holmes himself (Michael Pennington
). He had received a trapped gift from a lost brother of his old nemesis, James Moriarty, which infected him with the bubonic plague
. In hopes of receiving a cure somewhere in the future, Holmes and Watson had devised the desperate plan of putting Holmes into suspended animation to save Holmes' life. Fortunately, although she is at a loss to explain the recurrence of the plague to the doctor she seeks out, Jane manages to administer the cure to Holmes.
Holmes soon finds himself in a world which has changed a lot in his absence, and lacking an alternative, he accompanies Jane to America, where they are soon drawn into a very difficult case. Someone has ransacked Jane's office and left a message signed Small; right afterwords they receive a visit from Carter Morstan's daughter Violet (Connie Booth
), who asks her to investigate her father's murder and states that the message found in Jane's office was meant for her. Jane and Holmes (who uses one of his old aliases, Holmes Sigerson) mean to ask the FBI, but the higher ranks are stone-walling, and soon Holmes and Jane find themselves under the close scrutiny of a young agent named Tobias (Nicholas Guest
). When both begin to backtrack three of Morstan's former colleagues and friends, they find one of them dead.
With some aid from Tobias, Holmes and Jane finally receive the information they need: Just before their retirement from the FBI, Morstan and his colleagues were involved in a hijacking case and the simultaneous disappearance of several millions of counterfeit money. The perpetrator in the hijacking case was one Peter Small; and when the four agents were suspected of having stolen the counterfeit money, they refused a lie detector test and subsequently quit the FBI. It takes Holmes and Jane not long to guess that the counterfeit money was used to pay off Small and the four FBI agents had kept the ransom for themselves, so Small taking revenge on his betrayers seems the most logical motive. But Small seems to stay one step ahead of them; their next candidate of the four is murdered as they try to warn him, and as the last survivor finally leads them to the cache where they have hidden the ransom money, it is already gone.
In the end, however, mainly thanks to his aroused interest in the Watergate scandal
, Holmes finally deduces the true motive behind the scheme. The true culprit is actually Carter Morstan himself; soon after he and his colleagues had hidden the money, he had appropriated all of it for his own. Small had been killed during their struggle, and Morstan had hit upon the chance to kill his comrades in crime before they would discover his duplicity and lay the blame on Small. With a cunning scheme, Holmes manages to lure Morstan out of hiding and right into the arms of the FBI, resolving the case. The film ends with the prospect of Jane establishing a relationship with Tobias, and Holmes coming close to Violet Morstan.
, as mentioned in the short story The Final Problem
, failing him miserably to a few well-placed punches. Other scenes featured Holmes learning to drive, learning that "television is radio with pictures" only to wonder what radio is, and learning the modern definition of the term "adult bookstore", as well as quickly developing an aversion to air travel.
However, Holmes was not consistently shown as helpless - one scene, for example, depicts him using his skills to successfully impersonate a Los Angeles police detective (using a badge from a child's police toy kit) to bluff a security guard that had arrested Jane.
At the time, the film was presented as a pilot for a possible series. Despite some excellent reviews from television critics, the show was never picked up.
A 1993 television film, Sherlock Holmes Returns
, starring Anthony Higgins
and Debrah Farentino
, had a nearly identical plotline.
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television movie and pilot created and written by Bob Shayne involving the famous detective Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
finding himself in the modern world.
Plot
In the beginning sequence, a former FBI agent named Carter Morstan (Barry MorseBarry Morse
Herbert "Barry" Morse was an Anglo-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio best known for his roles in the ABC television series The Fugitive and the British sci-fi drama Space: 1999...
) receives an unwelcome visit by a man named Small. In the ensuing struggle, a gunshot rings. Subsequently, a body is wrapped into a carpet and set alight.
Jane Watson (Margaret Colin
Margaret Colin
Margaret Colin is an American actress. She is known for her role as Margo Montgomery Hughes # 1 on As the World Turns and for her role as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on Gossip Girl.-Early life:...
) works as a private detective in Boston but faces financial ruin because she approaches her job from a more humane angle - much to the dislike of her secretary, Ms Houston (Lila Kaye
Lila Kaye
Lila Kaye is a retired British actress. She spent a number of years working in the United States, on Broadway and in television, before returning to the U.K....
) -; therefore she is eventually forced to sell the English country estate of her ancestor, Dr. Watson. She visits the old house one last time, where a lawyer hands her an envelope with detailed instructions inside. Following those instructions, Jane finds a hidden basement containing a primitive cryogenic
Cryonics
Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
capsule with a man lying inside, whom she thaws up.
The man inside the capsule turns out to be her ancestor's friend and partner, the legendary Sherlock Holmes himself (Michael Pennington
Michael Pennington
Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British director and actor who, together with director Michael Bogdanov, founded the English Shakespeare Company...
). He had received a trapped gift from a lost brother of his old nemesis, James Moriarty, which infected him with the bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
. In hopes of receiving a cure somewhere in the future, Holmes and Watson had devised the desperate plan of putting Holmes into suspended animation to save Holmes' life. Fortunately, although she is at a loss to explain the recurrence of the plague to the doctor she seeks out, Jane manages to administer the cure to Holmes.
Holmes soon finds himself in a world which has changed a lot in his absence, and lacking an alternative, he accompanies Jane to America, where they are soon drawn into a very difficult case. Someone has ransacked Jane's office and left a message signed Small; right afterwords they receive a visit from Carter Morstan's daughter Violet (Connie Booth
Connie Booth
Constance "Connie" Booth is an American-born writer and actress, known for appearances on British television and particularly for her portrayal of Polly Sherman in the popular 1970s television show Fawlty Towers, which she co-wrote with her then-husband John Cleese.-Biography:Booth's father was a...
), who asks her to investigate her father's murder and states that the message found in Jane's office was meant for her. Jane and Holmes (who uses one of his old aliases, Holmes Sigerson) mean to ask the FBI, but the higher ranks are stone-walling, and soon Holmes and Jane find themselves under the close scrutiny of a young agent named Tobias (Nicholas Guest
Nicholas Guest
Nicholas Haden-Guest is an American actor. He primarily works as a voice actor, but is best known for a TV role, as the principal in the NBC teen sitcom, USA High.-Personal life:...
). When both begin to backtrack three of Morstan's former colleagues and friends, they find one of them dead.
With some aid from Tobias, Holmes and Jane finally receive the information they need: Just before their retirement from the FBI, Morstan and his colleagues were involved in a hijacking case and the simultaneous disappearance of several millions of counterfeit money. The perpetrator in the hijacking case was one Peter Small; and when the four agents were suspected of having stolen the counterfeit money, they refused a lie detector test and subsequently quit the FBI. It takes Holmes and Jane not long to guess that the counterfeit money was used to pay off Small and the four FBI agents had kept the ransom for themselves, so Small taking revenge on his betrayers seems the most logical motive. But Small seems to stay one step ahead of them; their next candidate of the four is murdered as they try to warn him, and as the last survivor finally leads them to the cache where they have hidden the ransom money, it is already gone.
In the end, however, mainly thanks to his aroused interest in the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
, Holmes finally deduces the true motive behind the scheme. The true culprit is actually Carter Morstan himself; soon after he and his colleagues had hidden the money, he had appropriated all of it for his own. Small had been killed during their struggle, and Morstan had hit upon the chance to kill his comrades in crime before they would discover his duplicity and lay the blame on Small. With a cunning scheme, Holmes manages to lure Morstan out of hiding and right into the arms of the FBI, resolving the case. The film ends with the prospect of Jane establishing a relationship with Tobias, and Holmes coming close to Violet Morstan.
Cast
- Margaret ColinMargaret ColinMargaret Colin is an American actress. She is known for her role as Margo Montgomery Hughes # 1 on As the World Turns and for her role as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on Gossip Girl.-Early life:...
– Jane Watson - Michael PenningtonMichael PenningtonMichael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British director and actor who, together with director Michael Bogdanov, founded the English Shakespeare Company...
– Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve... - Daniel BenzaliDaniel BenzaliDaniel Benzali is a Brazilian-American stage, television and film actor.-Biography:Benzali was born in Rio de Janeiro to Brazilian Jewish parents...
– Ross - Connie BoothConnie BoothConstance "Connie" Booth is an American-born writer and actress, known for appearances on British television and particularly for her portrayal of Polly Sherman in the popular 1970s television show Fawlty Towers, which she co-wrote with her then-husband John Cleese.-Biography:Booth's father was a...
– Violet - Nicholas GuestNicholas GuestNicholas Haden-Guest is an American actor. He primarily works as a voice actor, but is best known for a TV role, as the principal in the NBC teen sitcom, USA High.-Personal life:...
– Toby - William HootkinsWilliam HootkinsWilliam Michael Hootkins was an American character actor, most famous for supporting roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Wars, Batman and Raiders of the Lost Ark.-Early life:...
– Spelman - Paul MaxwellPaul MaxwellPaul Maxwell was a Canadian actor who worked mostly in British television and films, in which he was usually cast as an American...
– Hopkins - Barry MorseBarry MorseHerbert "Barry" Morse was an Anglo-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio best known for his roles in the ABC television series The Fugitive and the British sci-fi drama Space: 1999...
– Carter Morstan
Special plot elements
The details of the main plot are adapted from The Sign of the Four. The content of the film attempted to blend comedy and mystery. A fight scene, for example, featured Holmes's knowledge of the martial art BaritsuBaritsu
Baritsu is a fictional martial art, described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Empty House", the first of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, to explain how Holmes had managed to avoid falling into the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarty as described in...
, as mentioned in the short story The Final Problem
The Adventure of the Final Problem
"The Final Problem" is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Strand Magazine in December 1893. It appears in book form as part of the collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes...
, failing him miserably to a few well-placed punches. Other scenes featured Holmes learning to drive, learning that "television is radio with pictures" only to wonder what radio is, and learning the modern definition of the term "adult bookstore", as well as quickly developing an aversion to air travel.
However, Holmes was not consistently shown as helpless - one scene, for example, depicts him using his skills to successfully impersonate a Los Angeles police detective (using a badge from a child's police toy kit) to bluff a security guard that had arrested Jane.
At the time, the film was presented as a pilot for a possible series. Despite some excellent reviews from television critics, the show was never picked up.
A 1993 television film, Sherlock Holmes Returns
Sherlock Holmes Returns
Sherlock Holmes Returns is a 1993 American television movie about the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, that stars Anthony Higgins as Holmes. It was written and directed by Kenneth Johnson.-Plot:...
, starring Anthony Higgins
Anthony Higgins
Anthony C. Higgins was a lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a veteran of the Civil War and a member of the Republican, who served as United States Senator from Delaware....
and Debrah Farentino
Debrah Farentino
Debrah Farentino is an American model and actress.-Early life:Farentino was born Deborah Mullowney in Lucas Valley, California. She attended Miller Creek Junior High School, and Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, California...
, had a nearly identical plotline.