The Creeping Man (28 Mar. 1991)

Holmes thinks a woman's claim to have seen a man at her upstairs bedroom window is related to the theft of several apes.

Director:

Tim Sullivan

Writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle (by), Robin Chapman (dramatised by),

Stars:

Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke, Charles Kay

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Jeremy Brett	...	Sherlock Holmes
Edward Hardwicke	...	Dr. Watson
Charles Kay	...	Professor Presbury
Adrian Lukis	...	Jack Bennett
Sarah Woodward	...	Edith Presbury
Anna Mazzotti	...	Alice Morphy
James Tomlinson	...	Macphail
Peter Guinness	...	Wilcox
Steve Swinscoe	...	Jenkins
Colin Jeavons	...	Inspector Lestrade
Anthony Havering	...	Secretary of the Zoological Society
Peter Elliott	...	Great Ape

Storyline

Sherlock Holmes is asked by Jack Bennett to investigate after his fiancée Edith Presbury sees the shadow of a man in her window in the middle of the night. The problem is that her bedroom is on the second floor and there is no way for any man to have been able to get to that window. Edith is the daughter of a notable natural scientist, Professor Presbury, a widower who is engaged to be married to a much younger woman, Alice Morphy. The Professor is quite displeased at hearing that Bennett, who also happens to be his assistant, has hired the Great Detective and Holmes and Watson are unceremoniously escorted off the property.When Holmes reads of a rash of thefts from zoos - all monkeys and apes - he slowly begins to unravel the mystery of the shadow Miss Presbury saw in her window.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 March 1991 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Grappenhall, Warrington, Cheshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Television

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Just after the introduction, when the naturalist's office is shown for the first time, sounds of typing can be heard in the background. They actually form the monotonic rendition of the intro music. (Performance, however, is far from perfect.)

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Quotes

[first lines]
Professor Presbury: You may inform the Secretary of the Royal Society that I have entitled my Michaelmas lecture 'Darwin's Fundamental Error'.
Jack Bennett: That'll raise a few hackles, sir.
Professor Presbury: Will it not.

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Connections

Version of Splhající profesor (1992)

User Reviews

Great Galloping Gonads!

This episode starts very quietly - a young woman thinks she sees a shadow of something outside her window in the middle of the night, but her room is on the second floor 20 or more feet from the ground. The obvious explanation is that it was a dream. But the young woman's fiancé believes her story yet it seems too impossible to report to the police - he contacts Holmes. No sooner has he done that than he returns demanding that Holmes drops the case. Holmes' instinct tells him that there is a deep mystery here - but at this stage all there are is just a few unconnected oddities. And so it continues: more oddities without connection yet, if its form cannot yet possibly be imagined, the truth is getting closer. The episode progresses like an express train first heard quietly in the distance but with steadily building loudness. The conclusion is completely thunderous as the truth is finally shockingly revealed. The conclusion of this most extravagant episode in the entire series does not disappoint.