Episode 38 – Wisteria Lodge
In this eclectic adventure, Holmes, Watson, and Inspector Baynes (Freddie Jones) investigate a series of strange occurrences at the mysterious Wisteria Lodge. Also, we chat with actress Kika Markham (Miss Burnet) and Floor Manager/AD David Hanson about their time on the show, Gus and Luke analyze the original shooting script and discuss Bending The Willow’s troubled re-release, and we even get some help deciphering the conundrum of Mr. Scott Eccles compound surname. Plus, listener telegrams and much more!
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Wisteria Lodge is not one of my favorite Doyle short stories. But Brett and Granada did make it much more entertaining in bringing it to the screen.
And Gus & Luke, in their usual thoughtful and well-crafted audio style, have made me appreciate what it took for that to happen.
Wonderful work! Thank you again, gents!
Thanks, Justa! I think we agree that this one isn’t Granada’s very finest. But it’s still a fun ride! Thanks for sticking with us!
Long time Granada Sherlock Holmes and Jeremy Brett fan. Best Sherlock and best series.
Just found your podcast following a binge rewatch of the series. Stellar work! Well researched and very informative. Am now listening to each episode and rewatching each show to see everything I missed it. Love it. THANK YOU!
Welcome to the club, Clare! Always thrilled to meet a fellow fan of the series! Thanks for listening!
Me too.
I love Freddie Jones in this, and the candy-eating. I find the episode rather turgid and confusing (despite some nice moments, like Watson being attacked by the girls), and Jones offers some nice levity. It’s funny to see Holmes ALMOST meeting his equal. This being the UK, I agree there was likely a great deal of class tension between Brett and Jones, but it feeds nicely into the dynamic between the two characters.
My big issue with the episode is that it really leans into the un-PC “foreign people do weird foreign things” undercurrent of the story, and the creepiness of the voodoo blood and feathers (which I agree is the most memorable aspect of the short story) would have at least given it a bit of Devil’s Root-style spookiness rather than just making it seem like garden variety Victorian distrust of foreigners. Without the pail of blood, mummy baby, and sacrificed voodoo chicken it’s just kind of a standard “secret society/politics from abroad gone awry”-type plot with very little humor (except for Jones). There’s a ton of screen time on characters we don’t care about because they’re stereotypes.
I agree Jeremy doesn’t seem himself in many scenes, and the stories you told tend to confirm that.
Agreed, as usual. 🙂
I just found out this incredible podcast and GREAT HEAVENS!!! I love Jeremy, Holmes and anything related to them since I was 11 years old, I’m 15 btw and a young fan 🥲😂
Just want to say thank u for creating this podcast for honouring Jeremy and SH series, keep going :))♡
Thanks, Arina! Glad you found us!
Young fans like me…😂
By the way, I’m younger than you 💦My whole family loves him ♡
Ｈe is my first love. ・・・
Qualify this statement with I have not read the short story (a deficiency i will have to remedy shortly). But i have to salute you for taking a seemingly unmemorable episode and providing enough background to make quite an impression on me. I expected this one to be a slog. Now the plot makes sense!
The way this episode was shot was spectacular. Peter Hammond was let off his leash and may have gotten carried away. Many of the mirror reflections are so well aligned they resemble portraits. Something to think about for the next batch of relics.
Imagine the reader’s excitement to come across this story circa 1900. Committed revolutionaries from the other side of the Atlantic in Edwardian England and on the hunt for a brutal dictator to make him answer for his past crimes. All are excellent plot elements.
Jeremy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Gus and Luke…
Thanks, as always, for the excellent podcast and the amazing amount of work you put into each episode, I love listening to them after re-watching the episode. And I am slowly catching up, only a few more episodes to go before I will have to wait for new episodes like everyone else!
I have to say, having watched Wisteria Lodge for the first time in years, this really feels like the first “not good” episode to me, definitely the worst one so far. A lot of the reasons for this you bring yourselves up in the podcast, the sheer mess made of the plot being the obvious one. But also some of it is just a little too weird, a little too Peter Hammond off the lease, for my tastes. Some of the random shots just push it too far for me. The 2 second shot of steam and train wheels inserted into the middle of the shot of the family getting into the carriage at 1:38 is one example, or even more so, the weird 1 second close up of *someone’s* eye at 12:59, I’m not even sure whose eye it is! Maybe the cook’s? Anyhow, a little *too* much “style” for my taste, and not enough substance, and as Mary said above, even Jeremy seems a bit off in places.
But, as always, thank you so much for all your work and passion for this, I am so enjoying rewatching all the episodes and listening to your podcast!