Cruising about in the wilds of this here internet,  I was recently assaulted by  a negative review of the FANTASTIC Sherlock Holmes pastiche, SECOND HOLMES.  I felt compelled to write a note in defense of this amazingly funny and extraordinarily well-written take on the Holmes legend.  I love new discoveries,  and so rarely do I enjoy a modern production this much, so a few positive words seem compulsory.

Peter Egan,  best known to Phantom Empires from his recent spot on the worldwide hit DOWNTON ABBEY,   plays Stamford Holmes, the grandson of the great consulting detective, but Stamford, while having every bit of the Herculean intellect and breadth of curiosity of Grand-dad, has no interest in the vocation which made his last name famous.  On the other hand, the Grandson of Dr. Watson, also a Dr. Watson,  played with amusing exasperation by Jeremy Nicholas, is entirely preoccupied by the perpetuation of their shared  familial mythos.

The mysteries are fun and generally quite solid,  in spite of the generally humourous tone of the writing.  Egan's Holmes is amazingly arrogant,  but in the most charming way,  and in the reflection of his Watson's incessant attempts to turn everything into a mystery (to add more meat to his newspaper scribblings detailing Stamford's 'adventures'),   it seems reasonable!

Honestly,  I consider these equal to anything Holmes related thus far produced, and that includes the immaculate Jeremy Brett versions.  Sadly, there were only six episodes produced in 1983,  and what a great pity that is. 

I recommend them all!

All six episodes can be heard HERE on Youtube. 

When I was a wee lad, growing weedlike in the historical hamlet of Napavine, I was a mad lover of radio shows. I searched the airwaves fanatically for the odd random radio drama here and there, with Jeff, my "basically bro", foraging alongside, somehow oblivious to the idea that radio stations had regular schedules where we might have a more regular listen. It was all in the good though, as the pursuit, in all truth, was the spice in the pie. At some point we caught the spoor, and took a more measured and logical approach, which succeeded admirably.

We had discovered the radio shows on Sunday after the big band broadcast called THE GOLDEN YEARS, broadcast from the local station KELA, which was only half an hour(only one show!!!). We had also found the incredible treasure trove from noon to midnight both Saturday and Sunday on a station from San Francisco called KFBK(a primarily news station, which back in the 50's was the home to Billy Jack Wills, the Country Boogie brother of western swing legend Bob Wills). What an incredible feast.

After that, the foraging was comparatively rare; why scrabble amongst the rocks for fungus when the larder is packed to the top with prime rib? But I was conditioned to the practice, and sometimes sat in the dark with my little plug-in radio on my lap, craning to hear if that monotone voice(ect.) was a radio drama or something less captivating, such as the local farm report.

It was on one of these nights that I discovered Bertie Wooster and his incredible gentleman's gentleman, Jeeves.

For them (rare oddballs) that aren't in-the-know, Jeeves and Wooster are the creations of british comic genius, Sir Pelham Grenville "P. G." Wodehouse, a madman with a sentence, and perhaps the most insanely funny writer in the English language. The scenarios that he puts poor Bertram Wooster in are complex and silly, maddening and charming...but he always makes sure the super-genius Jeeves is always there to steer the ship away from the rocks in to safe harbour.

To make a long story, one evening I heard them on the radio!!! The actors, Sir Michael Hordern (as Jeeves), and the skilled Richard Briers(as Bertie), mad me laugh out loud, which is next to impossible, and as rare as truth from an American politician! I told Jeff immediately, but sadly heard only the last few episodes before it finished, and in those pre-internet days (!!!), we just had to suffer in our isolations. It wasn't until Jeff spent a university term in the UK that we were able to hear a full broadcast, blissfully unaware that there were actually many full-cast dramatisations of these incredible shows. Mr. Jeff may remember the history differently, but old men must be forgiven their failings in memory.

I now own FIVE of the blessed dramas, and I'm in a kind of Brit-geek heaven!!! They are exactly as charming and funny as I remember. I've been listening to them on the bus to and from work, and I haven't yet managed to put the stifle to the occasional public guffaw.

Life does get better than that,  but not by much.