Tag: Joseph Bell

The Ardlamont Mystery

by Derelict Space Sheep on February 9, 2020 in 42 Word Reviews • 0 Comments

The Ardlamont Mystery: The Real-Life Story Behind the Creation of Sherlock Holmes

by Daniel Smith (Michael O’Mara, 2018)

Whereas Smith sifts every last scrap of the defendant’s and victim’s backstories, the key medical witnesses—Joseph Bell and Henry Littlejohn, upon whom Doyle based Sherlock Holmes—have walk-on parts at best. An assiduously researched historical non-event with a reprehensibly misleading subtitle.

Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes

by Derelict Space Sheep on October 3, 2015 in 42 Word Reviews • 0 Comments

Murder Rooms (The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes)

by David Pirie (BBC, 2000-2001)

This cleverly written historical drama depicts a young Arthur Conan Doyle playing Watson to nascent Holmes figure Dr Joseph Bell (Doyle’s real-life tutor at Edinburgh University). Replete with Holmes-esque observational deductions, the feature-length mysteries are intriguing… but moreish at only six episodes.