TV

The British Academy Film Awards 2021
Part 1 Opening Night
Part 2 Awards Ceremony
I thought splitting the usual awards in two might be a bit pointless, but the "Opening Night" part was rather good — it took awards that are normally dumped in an “also awarded” montage and did a complete 180 on that, not only presenting them but taking time to discuss them. Nicely done.
[Watch both parts (again) on iPlayer.]


The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes

This TV special was made to tie-in to the release of Young Sherlock Holmes in 1985, but nowadays can be found on Arrow's Blu-ray release of the Hammer Hound of the Baskervilles, the link being it's presented by Christopher Lee. Lee is a consummate pro — you feel like the first time he ever saw his script for this was as he read it off cue cards on camera, but he still gives a good go of injecting some personality. The disdain with which he says “Star Trek’s William Shatner” is magnificent.

Sadly, that can’t be said of much else in this perfunctory overview of Holmes on stage and screen, which plays like someone reading out a Wikipedia entry. At times it takes its title too literally, devolving into no more than a list of names. There are some interesting clips from very early and obscure films and TV adaptations, which is nice, but the long section devoted to excerpts from the Basil Rathbone films feels unnecessary nowadays when you can easily watch the whole films (and you should, most of them are really good).