''Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady'' and its sequel, '' Incident at Victoria Falls'' (1992), are a pair of TV films made in 1991 under the banner ''Sherlock Holmes the Golden Years''.

Harry Alan Towers Harry Alan Towers (19 October 1920 – 31 July 2009) was a British radio and independent film producer and screenwriter. He wrote numerous screenplays for the films he produced, often under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck. He produced over 80 f ...

was executive producer and Bob Shayne was the writer on both.

Plot

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are elderly gentlemen in 1910

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Both are involved independently with foiling Balkan terrorists. They reunite by chance with “The Woman”: actress

Irene Adler Irene Adler is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A former opera singer and actress, she was featured in the short story " A Scandal in Bohemia", published in July 1891. Adler is one of the ...

. They save Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until ...

from an assassination at the opera house and thus delay the onset of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The film also featured a number of historical characters, including

Eliot Ness Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone and enforce Prohibition in Chicago. He was the leader of a team of law enforcement agents, nicknamed The Untouchables. ...

and

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

Cast

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultim ...

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British film and television actor. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he began his acting career in Canada. Despite having some small film roles, Macnee spent much ...

as Dr. Watson *

Morgan Fairchild Morgan Fairchild (born Patsy Ann McClenny; February 3, 1950) is an American actress. She began acting in the early 1970s and has had roles in several television series since. Fairchild began her career on the CBS daytime soap opera ''Search for T ...

* John Bennett as

Dr. Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...

* Engelbert Humperdinck as Eberhardt Bohm *

Tom Lahm Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

Elliott Ness Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone and enforce Prohibition in Chicago. He was the leader of a team of law enforcement agents, nicknamed The Untouchables. ...

Jenny Quayle Jenny may refer to: * Jenny (given name), a popular feminine name and list of real and fictional people * Jenny (surname), a family name Animals * Jenny (donkey), a female donkey * Jenny (gorilla), the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of ...

as Lady Violet Cholmondley *

Jerome Willis Jerome Barry Willis (23 October 1928 – 11 January 2014) was a prominent British stage and screen actor with more than 100 screen credits to his name. Willis had a leading role in the ITV drama series ''The Sandbaggers'' as Matthew Peele. He ...

Mycroft Holmes Mycroft Holmes is a fictional character appearing in stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from 1893 to 1908. The elder brother (by seven years) of detective Sherlock Holmes, he is a government official and a founding member of the Diogene ...

* Margaret John as Mrs. Hudson *

Charlotte Attenborough Charlotte Isabel Attenborough (born 29 June 1959) is a British stage, film and television actress known for her appearances in ''Jane Eyre'' (1996) and ''Jeeves and Wooster'' (1991, 93). She is the daughter of Richard Attenborough and Sheila Si ...

as Margaret Froelich

Production

It was initially announced that there would be an eight-hour

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

entitled ''The Golden Years of Sherlock Holmes''. The project series of eight one-hour episodes soon morphed into two three-hour films.

Filming

It was shot back to back with '' Incident at Victoria Falls''.

Locations

Filming locations were in Austria, London and Luxembourg.

Home media

Both were released in the next two years and there were drastically edited versions released by

Vestron Video Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that was active from 1981 to 1993, and is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market. The name is now used for a collect ...

s. The full versions are now available on DVD.

References

External links

* {{Peter Sasdy 1991 television films 1991 films Films set in 1910 Films set in Vienna Films shot in Austria Films shot in London Films shot in Luxembourg

Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady ''Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady'' and its sequel, ''Incident at Victoria Falls'' (1992), are a pair of TV films made in 1991 under the banner ''Sherlock Holmes the Golden Years''. Harry Alan Towers was executive producer and Bob Shayne wa ...

Films directed by Peter Sasdy Cultural depictions of Franz Joseph I of Austria 1990s English-language films