The Return of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series) The Abbey Grange (1986) User Reviews

A superb episode

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 27 July 2016]

It's hard to think of any such quality one hour mysteries being produced nowadays, I'm glad I grew up in an era of Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. One of the most memorable of episodes for me is 'The Abbey Grange,' a wonderful mystery, brought vividly to life by all concerned. It's a murder mystery caught up in a love story, with glorious production values, a first rate outing for the detective duo, the banter between them over Watson's writings, and the delightful performance of Anne-Louise Lambert, as Lady Mary, who dazzles with a soft, innocent beauty. I love the ending too, there is a reality in the showdown between Jack and Sir Eustace.

Sure enough the elements are all there, Abbey Grange is a first class episode, one of the best. 9/10

An underrated gem

[ericksonsam60 · 8/10 · 5 October 2011]

This is not one of the more popular Sherlock Holmes episodes, yet it still remains a standout. Its plot is not unusual - a wealthy nobleman is brutally murdered, but it's the startling revelations that make it particularly memorable. It's also another example of Holmes rightly applying his own sense of justice. Stories in which Holmes reveals his humanity are among my favorites, and the strong sense of intrigue builds to a satisfying conclusion. It is artfully directed and photographed in a beautiful English countryside. Also, the music by Patrick Gowers is evocative, and Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke continue to shine as the quintessential Holmes and Watson.

I personally found The Abbey Grange one of the better episodes of "Return..."

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 26 May 2012]

I have always been a fan of the Sherlock Holmes Granada series, and while not my favourite of Return...(between The Devil's Foot and The Sign of Four) or of the series(too many to choose from), it is one of the stronger episodes and deserves to be better known. The story is not unfamiliar territory, but it is still as compelling as you'd expect a Sherlock Holmes story to be. What I also liked about the story, aside from how it drew you in with the suspense and the twists and turns, was not only that it didn't feel like a retread of another episode with a similar premise but I too like the episodes that show a more human side to Holmes and The Abbey Grange is one of those. The writing is intelligent, the music is hauntingly beautiful and the episode is splendidly and evocatively made. The supporting cast are solid, but the two leads are the stars. Edward Hardwicke is a loyal and quietly intelligent Watson, and Jeremy Brett's Holmes is as superb as you would expect. Overall, one of the better episodes of the "Return" series and falls into the category that deserves to be better known. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The Chemistry Is Already Working

[agni0504 · 10/10 · 4 April 2009]

The Abbey Grange was the first episode shot with Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson, but you can already notice the chemistry between Holmes and his new companion.I really liked David Burke, but Edward is just as great as he has been.

What I like in this story the most is the deep sympathy Holmes feels towards Lady Brackenstall, who is tortured by her husband. In the Canon Holmes is portrayed as someone who has no emotions at all and who does not care about women.In this episode he tries to help a lady, we see emotions, sympathy, worry and strong sense of justice.Jeremy is so irresistibly young and handsome, he shows more of his true personality.He is calm, understanding and caring, a real gentleman.

The ending scene is perfectly arranged: just watch how Holmes responds to a quite natural thing - Lady Brackenstall tries to hug him. There we see another Sherlock: a solitary, introverted creature, who does not like to be close to someone, who is impatient. This is the miracle of him, he is so multi-layered and complex, he can always surprise us with a move or a sentence.

The game is afoot.

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 25 October 2013]

Another entertaining episode featuring a brutal murder that needs the expertise of Sherlock Holmes to help bring the facts to light.

It begins in a wealthy manor where the lord of the house has been found dead from being hit over the head with a fire-poker. The lady of the house was a witness as she described to Holmes and the police that she walked in on three men robbing the house. She advised that she was beaten and tied up before her husband entered the room for her rescue. But instead, her husband was killed and the men left after stealing all the silver.

Holmes hears the story but seems interested in the woman's account of the story that involved the three men taking a drink out of the glasses on the counter. There is something to this part of the story that mesmerizes Holmes to the point of returning to the manor and again talking to the injured lady. And as we know when Holmes goes in for a second account of the story, the walls of fiction will be revealed.

Another fine episode featuring Jeremy Brett as the always interesting actor playing Sherlock Holmes. Jeremy is brilliant as his tics and facial expressions are just as compelling as the character he portrays. Good Watch.

Spousal Abuse

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 7 February 2014]

This is one of the more complex stories. Holmes is called to the home a nobleman who has been beaten to death with a fireplace poker. His wife has been tied to a chair in a state of great distress. As the episode unfolds there are series of inconsistent clues which lead Holmes to be suspicious of the lady's story. There is a bell rope to nowhere, a knot that doesn't fit, and a set of wine glasses which aren't as they should be. Holmes must tread lightly because the lady is fragile and must be treated as such. The beauty of this particular episode has to do with the amassing of clues. It has a more contemporary sense to it and requires more decoding. Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke are very adept as the sleuths, and when one hears the wrapping up at the end, it is quite satisfying. It has a side issue which a stickler for traditional justice might find unsatisfying. Holmes must become judge and jury once again.

Edward Hardwicke winning me over

[vitoscotti · 9/10 · 16 October 2020]

David Burke was so wonderful. Edward Hardwicke had a challenge to win me over. I'm starting to really enjoy his part a couple episodes into the transition. So much is poured into less than an hour. It's amazing. I especially enjoyed Lady Mary's (Anne- Louise Lambert) performanc.

Battered Victorian Trophy Wife

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 9 January 2010]

Although the accent of course is on our protagonist Sherlock Holmes ferreting out a solution to a murder, in this particular story Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was years ahead of his time in using as a subject a battered wife of the Victorian Era. Options for battered women were quite a bit more limited than they are today.

For reasons he's not quite clear himself about, Scotland Yard's Inspector Hopkins (Paul Williamson) calls in Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke (Holmes and Watson) in on what looks like a break-in robbery of a Victorian mansion gone wrong right into a homicide. Perhaps because the victim was a titled individual and a rich one, Scotland Yard wanted to be sure.

Of course Holmes deduces it was not a break-in gone bad which left the man murdered and his much younger wife tied up. Rather quickly Brett says that Anne-Louise Lambert was the victim of long time abuse. And he also figures out that a sailor is somehow involved in this affair.

What to do about it, well all I can say is that Agatha Christie might have taken a bit from Conan Doyle when she wrote Murder On The Orient Express with her solution for Hercule Poirot when he found the murder.

As Arthur Conan Doyle was an observer of Victorian society, I believe that his victim/villain Lord Eustace Brackenstall may very well have been modeled on the Marquis of Queensbury who later made life miserable for Oscar Wilde. Queensbury had the same kind of temperament that Brackenstall displays and he certainly abused his family. Conrad Phillips plays Brackenstall with relish.

Good Holmes story and dramatization of same.

Interesting episode

[grantss · 8/10 · 4 December 2022]

Holmes is urgently called to Abbey Grange in Kent at the request of Inspector Hopkins. Sir Eustace Brackenstall has been murdered. However, Lady Brackenstall was a witness to proceedings and from her testimony the case seems cut and dried - a notorious gang of thieves was responsible.

A reasonably interesting episode of The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Not entirely intriguing: from the start something is amiss - the case is (apparently) solved very easily and everything is too neat and complete. The implication for this is that we know who the perpetrator is, or at least that they're an accomplice of the perpetrator.

And so this feeling of unease proves justified. This doesn't make the episode a waste though as Holmes still has to figure out what actually happened and the back story is a very interesting one.

The One About Captain Croker.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 29 July 2012]

Rather a good entry. Holmes and Watson are called to Abbey Grange, one of those mansions with which the series is populated. The Master of the House has been found with his head bashed in near the fireplace. His wife, bruised and beaten, was tied to a chair nearby. So, whodunnit? The Master, Sir Eustace Brackenstall, wasn't a very nice guy, as it turns out -- a drunkard with a vile temper. But what engages Holmes are the little details that he builds his logical argument on. The rope with which the wife, played by Anne-Louise Lambert, was tied had been cut with a knife near the ceiling, at a point very difficult to reach. There are three half-empty glasses of port on the mantel but only one has dregs in it, or maybe two, I forget, but in any case the dregs aren't distributed the way they should be if there had been three intruders who murdered Brackenstall and then had a glass of port to steady their nerves.

All of this casts doubt on the story of Lady Brackenstall, who claims that during intervals of consciousness she saw three strangers. It's very ungentlemanly of Holmes or anybody else to cast any doubt on Lady Brackenstall's tale because Anne-Louise Lambert is a real dish. The last thing any normal man would want to do is cast doubt on her story, let alone beat her, although a pinch or two probably wouldn't hurt.

Holmes quickly disposes of the three-intruder story and narrows it down to one, whose motive and identity he uncovers with improbable alacrity. I don't want to give away any more of the plot because it is, after all, a genuine mystery. Let's say no one suffers who hadn't earned his suffering.

Powerful Stuff

[emmetlang-42622 · 9/10 · 26 August 2023]

This is as good an episode as I've seen yet. The acting is top notch all the way around. Holmes and Watson are outstanding in their quiet subtle exchanges. Lady Brackenstall is wonderfully understated and convincing in sharing her fabricated story. Even excellent performances by the maid Theresa and Mr Viviani, the head of the shipping line. This is one of the best Holmes plays of any kind I've ever seen. It's also satisfying to me how closely the script follows the original--this telling strays only once, when the Lady is present for the "courtroom" scene (Watson as jury). That scene is developed perfectly however and is worth the price of admission by itself. Wonderful episode.

Sourpuss nitpicking note: Inspector Stanley Hopkins is a young man--probably between 28 and 30 years old. The actor they have portraying him here is twice that. It's important because Hopkins invariably jumps to incorrect conclusions easily--part of his youth and inexperience, which is lost in this story with an older man playing him.

The Abbey Grange

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 7 May 2019]

Holmes is excited when Inspector Hopkins requests his attendance over the death of Sir Eustace Brackenstall. He was found dead in his country house after being hit on the head by a poker.

His battered wife tells Holmes that the house was broken into by three robbers who attacked them, they left with some stolen silver.

Something about her story does not add up and it concerns Holmes. He wonders why the robbers left her alive when she could have identified them.

Holmes regards Sir Eustace has a hot tempered drunk who married a younger wife who has joined him from Australia. Holmes and Watson are looking for another man who is of interest to them.

There is an amusing scene after Holmes has castigated Watson for his writing style. They meet Mr Viviani the managing director of the London office of a shipping line. He is a diligent reader of Watson's writings and he puts into practice what he has learned of Holmes methods which leads to them getting an important lead.

In many ways this is a standard Holmes mystery, yet Holmes is intrigued by the description of Captain Croker by Mr Vivavni. It does lead to a different outcome.

Really odd direction

[rperret-74863 · 5/10 · 27 July 2016]

I have been watching the Granada series straight through and the direction of this episode is just strange. The camera drifts all over the place almost aimlessly during scenes, and at other times it zooms in on a random object. For instance, Holmes and Watson are having a conversation in a carriage and the camera drifts away from them and zooms in on a wheel while they are still speaking. Anytime anyone monologues the camera slowly pans in on their face as well. There are a lot of goofy shots of reflections, which could be a visual motif, I guess, but it is used to no storytelling effect and is off-style for this series. Finally, whenever Holmes, Watson, and Hopkins are in a room together they are shot in a very contrived diagonal line. I found the direction to be very distracting, and I was surprised to not find any other comments about it. Just really weird choices from a director who, at the time, had 25 years of experience.

Very poor adaptation

[donlessnau-591-637730 · 2/10 · 28 November 2020]

Most of the Brett films of Sherlock Holmes are amazingly faithful to the Conan Doyle stories. This is NOT one of them. Entertaining but one of the few, really bad adaptations in the Brett series. Not at all like the book. Pretty lame, actually.