Q: Why does Jeremy have a different, shorter hairstyle in some Holmes episodes?
A: Jeremy decided that he and Holmes needed a change and so he lopped off his hair. However, his do-it-yourself "do" caused the Granada Studios hairstylists much consternation because it was too short to be slicked back into his usual Holmes style. Which is apparently what Jeremy wanted. In a 1988 interview he claimed: I have to gel my hair. Now, gel is a very nasty thing to wear on a daily basis especially when it as severe as it has to be. And sometimes when I have been filming I've had to gel twice in one day. And you really feel like a...
It sets like cement, and it very uncomfortable. And, I thought if I could get the same effect with short hair - and, I think, to a large degree I did ?then I wouldn't have to gel?gung my hair. So that's why I did it and I think it worked. I think it made a nice change.?
Plus, he felt there was a precedent for his new hairstyle in one of the Sidney Paget illustrations from the original Holmes stories: ?..the one where [he] is drawing up his knees up under his chin. He is smoking the small clay pipe he uses when in one of his meditative moods.?
Also, according to the same 1988 interview, he was apparently inordinately upset by a British television critic's innocent remark that Holmes looked like Noel Coward with his slicked-back hair when Jeremy removed his groom disguise in A Scandal in Bohemia.
Of course, by this time, JB was in the grip of bipolar disorder and subject to mood swings and irritability, which may have skewed his thinking and some of the answers he gave in this very candid interview.
Q: Why is Jeremy heavier in some Holmes episodes?
A: Apparently, the medication prescribed to control Jeremy's bipolar disorder built up in his system over time and wreaked havoc on his heart, causing him to retain water. This explains his bloated appearance in many later episodes.
When Jeremy's heart began to fail, his medication was adjusted. Heart medicine and diuretics were prescribed, and his weight returned to nearly normal (unlike his health, unfortunately).
Q: What happened to Jeremy's first Dr. Watson, David Burke?
A: He left the Holmes series to spend more time with his family, and to concentrate on stage work. He's still active in British stage and television productions.
Q: Where can I write to Edward Hardwicke, JB's second Dr. Watson?
A: Try: International Creative Management, 396 Oxford Street London W1. (This is Mr. Hardwicke's agent.)
Q: What is the framed picture that Jeremy holds during one of the nightmare sequences in The Eligible Bachelor?
A: It is a reproduction of an 1848 portrait of Christ known as "The Veronica" or "St. Veronica's Handkerchief," painted by Austrian artist Gabriel Max. It was inspired by an image that was said to have appeared on a cloth St. Veronica used to wipe Jesus' face as He walked to His crucifixion. Jesus' eyes are closed in the portrait, but, supposedly, if one stares at them they will suddenly open. A few years ago I saw a copy of this portrait displayed at an antiques show (which is where I learned the above information). I immediately recognized it as the picture from The Eligible Bachelor.
Q: Is Granada going to make more Holmes episodes, with a "new" Sherlock?
A: Eventually, someone will film a new Sherlock Holmes series, but it probably won't be Granada. Even before the series with Jeremy Brett was completed, Granada's marvelous Baker Street in set in Manchester UK was walled up, roofed over, and made a part of the studio tour.
Incidentally, the set was later completely demolished, except for one part: the entrance to 221-B Baker Street. Now, this doorway stands on another street--Coronation Street, to be exact. The doorway, complete with its famous address, can be glimpsed in the background of the pizza parlour scenes on this long-running British soap (which was filmed adjacent to the Baker Street set on the Granada lot). Coronation Street's production chief explained, "It's a superstitious thing because it's a chunk of history, the doorway to Sherlock's lodgings, and we're hoping it might bring us luck." (Info from The Passenger's Log, The Sydney Passengers, Autumn & Winter 2003.)
Also, the British television industry has changed drastically since the Brett Holmes series began in 1983. There is greater emphasis on ratings and profit.
Granada moved on to gritty crowd-pleasers such as Cracker and Prime Suspect, as well as the sexually explicit Moll Flanders mini-series. Sadly, thoughtful period drama such as Sherlock Holmes is the exception rather than the rule these days.
