Along with The Last Vampyre, The Eligible Bachelor is one of the weaker Sherlock Holmes adaptations. If I have to marginally edge out which was worse, this probably because it is so weird and hard to get into. Well there are redeeming qualities. The production values are meticulous as usual with wondrous costumes, settings and scenery, while the music is haunting and just wonderful. And the acting is not bad at all, Jeremy Brett looks worse for wears but still has that commanding, sophisticated and gritty baritone and presence that makes him so wonderful to watch. Edward Hardwicke is rock solid as Watson, while Geoffrey Beavers and Anna Calder Marshall are good in their respective roles.

However I didn't care for Simon Williams as Lord Robert St. Simon, then again I didn't like his character, so conniving and such an unlikeable monster here he is horrible to watch. Then there is stodgy direction, pedestrian pacing and a plot that meanders all over the place. And the dialogue wasn't particularly noteworthy either, it wasn't sophisticated and intelligent enough and I missed the subtle humour that is evident at times.

Overall, not awful but not great. For a great Jeremy Brett-Holmes adaptation see Hound of the Baskervilles and Sign of Four. Both can be slow at times but they do have absorbing stories, stick to the spirit of their respective stories(not really a general problem as such) and have intelligent dialogue. 5/10 Bethany Cox

The Eligible Bachelor is a short story that has been embellished as a gothic mystery. It even has elements of Jane Eyre.

Lord Robert St Simon (Simon Williams) is the eligible bachelor with financial troubles. He has married young American heiress Henrietta Doran who has disappeared.

Lord Robert has come to see Holmes. He is a man with a past, several women he has been close to in the past have disappeared. Holmes is concerned by the aura of bad luck or carelessness surrounding Lord Robert.

This expanded film uses all sorts of tricks to pad out the story. Holmes has been having strange dreams which concerns Moriarty. He is not himself so Watson has a bigger part to play.

The plot just does not hang together, there is a leopard on the loose as well as a man with a claw. Just not a scarlett one.

It is a shame that ITV went for the feature film route with some of these short stories. It did not work and deviated a lot from the original stories.

This is NOT what I think of when I imagine Sherlock stories, life-long source of enjoyment for me. This was just mean-spirited, with no redeeming factors that I can find, though others might. Simon Williams, was a brute and wastrel and user, not much different than the character he played in "Upstairs-Downstairs" though in that there was less brutishness. This program is a sad decline to a series whose earlier episodes I loved.