THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES is a four-part BBC miniseries adaptation of the famous detective novel, featuring Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes. It was his first role after coming out of DOCTOR WHO. This production was made at the Pebble Mill studios and looks extremely cheap and studio bound throughout, with an episode and a half taking place before the action even moves out of Baker Street.Saying that, this is also oddly endearing at times and fairly watchable, although certainly not the best adaptation of the source material; try the Rathbone and Hammer versions for that. The moorland settings are well realised and the reliable Nicholas Woodeson (later of ROME fame) has a decent stab of Sir Henry. The storyline is adapted fairly well, getting rid of some of the extraneous material while keeping the main characters involved in the mystery. The titular hound's appearance is quite laughable but as a huge fan of BBC drama in the 1980s, I was still pleased by what I saw.

One year before Sy Weintraub mounted his epic, big-budget all-star cast "Hollywood" style version with Ian Richardson, BARRY LETTS did his BBC shoestring budget videotape version-- with Tom Baker.But it's not fair to compare THOSE two, even though they're so much alike and yet so different. No, what's fair is to compare this with Granada's version with Jeremy Brett. Because these two ARE SOOOO similar. And yet... I can attest that EVERY scene in the Baker version is SUPERIOR. More ENERGY! More CLARITY! More TENSION! And more DIALOGUE. In many scenes, the exact same words are spoken, which tells me both versions did follow the book, but there's just MORE in this one. In fact, there's so much more, it seems Tom Baker was running off at the mouth at high speed just to fit it all in! NO dead air-- NO long, boring silences. This thing MOVES like lightning! The supporting cast is mostly unknowns, but do their parts justice. Terrence Rigby, despite doing a low-key "Nigel Bruce", really seems to be trying hard to give us a Watson who's intelligent & caring. Only a year later he returned as "Inspector Layton" in the Weintraub-Richardson SIGN OF FOUR. (There seems to be a lot of that over the years with actors playing more than one part in various Holmes films.) Will Knightley is likable and somewhat eccentric as Dr. Mortimer. Nicholas Woodeson as Henry Baskerville is a bit of a surprise. He seems several inches shorter than I would expect for the part, and yet he brings strength and real character to it, and his growing friendship with Watson is very believable.As might be expected from the Letts-Dicks team, 3 other DOCTOR WHO actors turn up. I couldn't place him until I looked him up, but Barrymore is played by Morris Perry, who was the unspeakable EVIL "Captain Dent" in "COLONY IN SPACE". Laura Lyons is played by Caroline John, who as "Liz Shaw" remains one of my top favorite WHO girls. And Inspector Lestrade, who arrives at the end, is played by Hubert Rees, who was in "FURY FROM THE DEEP", "THE WAR GAMES", and played opposite Tom Baker in the first 2 episodes of "THE SEEDS OF DOOM" (which I've seen at least a dozen times over the years). All are excellent, although Lestrade barely has any lines at all! While it bothered me far less this latest viewing, the 2nd half of the film is really cut to the bone, and feels as if two-thirds of the story has been crammed into the 2nd half. Had this been 3 hours instead of 2, I daresay nothing from the book would have been left out. Mr. Franklin is relegated to a cameo, and so we barely have time to grasp his relationship with his daughter Laura. Apart from this, the only place where the budget hurts is that the interior of Baskerville Hall just does not have the "mammoth" feel of nearly every other version I've seen.I do feel the climax, where they pursue Stapleton, is much better than the limp ending in the Brett version. The killer's possible fate was suggested (but not shown) in the Rathbone version, but the way Holmes delivered the line "...across the Grimpen mire" was quite dramatic and left little doubt. Still, there are times when changes, especially to make things more visual, are definite improvements in a film version.My feeling is, THIS is the MOST FAITHFUL version. I know, I really should actually READ the book to be absolutely sure, but from closely comparing multiple versions, my instincts tell me this is probably the closest we'll ever see (unless someone ever decides to do a 3-hour version...).In his autobiography (one of the most disturbing books I have ever read in my life), Tom Baker said he felt he was terrible in this part. I disagree. He may not LOOK like Holmes, but he FEELS like Holmes. And he is, by far, the BEST thing about this version, after the script itself. Although he didn't write it, when "script editor" Terrence Dicks' name came up in the end credits, I APPLAUDED. DAMN, this is GOOD!!!Of the many versions of "HOUND" over the years, my favorites remain (in no particular order) Rathbone, Cushing, Baker & Richardson. All are worth watching, again and again!

We love Tom Baker, but the quality of the direction and supporting cast makes a mockery of the very concept of dramatic performance. As a lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan, born in the cradle of Dartmoor's misty tors, this production betrays both its fictional and historical roots, and is merely a hollow imitation of its source, which was served far more ably by the incomparable Jeremy Brett. Baker mistakes adult fiction for a serious performance and would have been better served by allowing the eccentricity of the 'doctor' to come to the fore. What this production badly needed was for someone, either in front or behind the camera, to take control and allow the multi-faceted nature of Holmes' character to drive events. A wasted opportunity that contributes nothing to the genre. It only contributed to putting the final nails in Baker's career.Big bag o' thrash.

I remember this adaptation, made for the BBC's Sunday Classic Serial slot. Tom Baker had just left 'Doctor Who' where he was 'fantastic' (of course!) I think this was the first time he had played the sleuth (he starred as Holmes on stage in 'The Mask of Moriarty' in 1985) but do not remember his performance here! I do remember Terence Rigby as Watson turned in another in a long line of Nigel Bruce impressions.Thank goodness we soon had David Burke to set a new example for Edward Hardwicke and Ian Hart! What I do remember favourably is Carl Davis' haunting theme music and the animated titles. The music was very much in the vein of Davis' sombre theme for 'Winston Churchill - The Wilderness Years.' The animated titles (following the Hound's shadow from rock to rock over a bleak, dark-skied Dartmoor) would have served well as a storyboard for part of the never yet correctly filmed 'legend of the Hound!' Oh well - we can dream!