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The first 50 minutes of this movie were quite boring. It focused on the personal problems Doyle had, including his sick wife, death threats by fans, a pushy publisher and feelings of guilt concerning his mentally ill father. Even though these subjects had an important impact on Doyle's life, I was more curious about the birth of Sherlock Holmes. The last 40 minutes were excellent. We finally got a look inside Doyle head, how he created Holmes and why he had to 'kill' Holmes. The actors are excellent. Including the intriguing Selden played by Tim McInnerny, Arthur Conan Doyle, a compelling role played by Douglas Henshall and Brian Cox as the 'role model' for Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Bell. The locations are good, especially for a TV movie and the camera work is nice. If the first 50 minutes were as good the the last 40 minutes this would have been a small masterpiece.

It's kind of a tradition: Sherlock Holmes at Christmas on the BBC. Two years ago I watched The hound of the Baskervilles which was an excellent episode. This year a new episode with a different kind of Holmes. A Holmes I liked. He wasn't just a character from a book, no he was as real as he can be. Everett does a great job, and Ian Hart as dr. Watson makes sure we can laugh at times.

About the story: after a bit of a slow start it became very suspenseful. Even though I think the fog idea could have been used better. There is only one exciting scene where the fog creates a kind of spooky atmosphere.

The BBC has not ruled out the possibility of further Sherlock Holmes films in the future. So I read from a press release on their website. This is good news!

I read this page before watching the movie so I expected a pretty bad movie. Now I can say that is not true. The story doesn't make much sense and the ending is far fetched, but it's very amusing. Hauer plays a excellent role, a psycho who uses Babee Gordon as a hand puppet. You can see Hauer really enjoys his role and he shows he can do better then the roles he usually gets (offered). Without Hauer this movie would be just another B thriller, perhaps a even a C thriller. Madsen shows she isn't only a nice woman to look at but she can also act. Thomas Newton is okay but the real fireworks come from Hauer..