Sherlock Holmes remains one of the most famous characters the world over (fictional, to be clear, despite some speculation Holmes may be based on a real person). He has memorably been played by Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr., Henry Cavill and Basil Rathbone, among others. All of those adaptations of Sherlock were made in the US or the UK, but did you know that the former Soviet Union made a series of Sherlock Holmes movies/TV series?
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson was a series of five movies that were then broken up into 11 episodes that aired on TV in the Soviet Union during the 1980s. At the heart of it was the performance of Vasiliy Livanov as Sherlock Holmes, which many who are well-versed in all things Sherlock Holmes consider to be one of the best portrayals of the character.
What’s really cool is you can watch The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson for yourself right now, and for free on YouTube, with an account having all 11 episodes of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson with English subtitles.
Though the Soviet Union’s film/TV industry was behind this adaptation of the classic London detective, it was heavily praised for being very faithful to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original work. This includes having the series set in London, with a street in Riga, Latvia (then part of the Soviet bloc), serving as the exterior of Holmes’ traditional residence on Baker Street.
Starring alongside Livanov’s Holmes was Vitali Solomin as Dr. John Watson. Together they went through a number of Holmes’ classic cases, including “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” “A Study in Scarlet,” “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton,” “The Final Problem,” The Adventure of the Empty House,” “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” “The Sign of Four,” “Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb,” “The Adventure of the Second Stain,” “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans” and “His Last Bow.”
Livanov’s performance as Holmes is so well regarded that he was actually made an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) “for service to the theatre and performing arts.”
If you’ve made your way through some of the notable current summer crime/mystery hits on TV like Untamed, Dept. Q, Countdown or Smoke, then The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson can be a fun alternative. And again, most importantly, free to watch.
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