The Cardboard Box

The final episode in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series. One of the best. A woman receives two human ears, buried in salt, in a cardboard box for Christmas. Only Holmes and Watson can relate all the facts and come to the correct conclusion. But we are not finished! We will be back in about two months as we research and explore Hercule Poirot, as we prepare to dig into Agatha Christie's greatest (male) detective. (Marple gets a whole other series.) Thanks to everyone who's downloaded and/or listened! We love and appreciate you all!

A large diamond. A rogue sportsman. And Mycroft (in the form of Charles Gray) pairing up with Watson. The director Peter Hammond goes way overboard with facets as a metaphor, but the way this show combines the original story with the Three Garridebs was actually pretty effective.

Omertá. A landlady comes to see Holmes and Watson because she's got a lodger who will not come out unless it's to grab a tray and go back inside the room. Mrs. Hudson urges her on, and Holmes agrees to take the case. The Mafia is involved. But who is in the landlady's room?

Russians! Nihilists! 140 different kinds of tobacco ash, and suffragettes! Coptic Christians! And a massive, really awful marital betrayal.  Rachel and Laura go long on this episode because it deserves it. It's one of the rare good ones in the latter days of this series.

Culverton Smith is manipulating his cousin and ensuring his death and societal destruction. Baby Hugh Bonneville and Susannah Harker turn this episode into a suspenseful saga of addiction and deception.

Thankfully, the Granada crew rescued Steve Dixie from the stupid racism that Conan Doyle saddled him with. Nonetheless...Mrs. Maberley is trying to get to the bottom of why and how her son really died. As weird as this episode was, it's better than what's gone before.

We were very mixed up about who the biddies were and who the twins were and also none of this should have ever happened. Happily, Hattie comes out on top, owning the manor house that she loved so much from a distance. And I guess that's what counts.

Wait, no, we were wrong - THIS is the show's worst episode ever. Another two-parter, this is the story of (we think? we're 45 minutes in and it's not really clear) a man who married a woman who disappeared right after the wedding. from a Reddit comment: Just watched Granada’s “The Eligible Bachelor” and am sitting here wondering what I just watched. It’s completely bonkers. Words fail us, and yet somehow we made an episode out of this first half.

It starts in flames. Turns out, those flames destroyed the set - and the manor house - entirely. This is Granada's attempt to put Holmes against a vampire - could have been great, turns out it was...well, a mess. We discuss. Part two of two.

It starts in flames. Turns out, those flames destroyed the set - and the manor house - entirely. This is Granada's attempt to put Holmes against a vampire - could have been great, turns out it was...well, a mess. We discuss. Part one of two.