Murder Rooms - The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (2000)

The Patient s Eyes A beautiful young woman is haunted by a masked cyclist who pursues her through the woods. To Doyle s surprise the pursuer is real. And so are the hideous murders connected to a gruesome incident in the Boer War.The Photographer s Chair Doyle and Bell investigate a serial killer s victims all of whom bare unusual markings. Doyle looks to a spiritualist for answers and is cautioned about his investigation from beyond the grave. Little does he know about the murderer s plans for his victims in the afterlife.The Kingdom of Bones When an ancient Egyptian mummy is unwrapped in public a recently murdered Englishman is found involving Doyle and Bell in a bombing conspiracy.The White Knight Strategem Two men with knowledge of a woman s suicide are murdered setting off a heated disagreement between Bell and an old police rival. At the risk of alienating Bell Doyle sides with the policeman but both men prove only partly correct.System Requirements:Running Time 720 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE UPC: 030306811390 Manufacturer No: DVD8113 Product Description

Terrific!

I was glued to the set through the entire movie!! Lots of twists and turns...never disappointing! March 3, 2008

Brilliant series - totally recommend

Murder Rooms is a great follow on from Dr Bell and Mr Doyle. Being a great Sherlock Holmes fan, I found this a fascinating insite into the man behind Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle), the issues facing both his personal life and difficulties associated with being a doctor in the 18th century (including the necessity of cultivating wealthy benefactors). The insite into early forensics and the fascinating characters of both Bell and Doyle, played to perfection by both Ian Richarson and Charles Edwards. The true affection and friendship that shines through this series helps to keep at bay the truely dark times in which they are set. My one complaint would have to be the closing credits on episode 4 where Doyle states that these mysteries were just the beginning, suggesting that a second series was to follow. Unfortunately, despite both critical and public acclaim a second series was not commissioned by the BBC - a terrible shame. September 12, 2007

Elementary my dear Doyle

What a brilliant method to give us another Sherlock Holmes series. While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at medical school and first starting his medical practice he met a real-life surgeon named Dr. Bell that was a living Sherlock Holmes. What an inspiration he would be for books would he not? So the first two hour movie, "Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle", introduces us to this excellent Murder Rooms series of four movies. During the first movie, "Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle", we find Doyle in medical school working with the forensics expert Dr. Bell that assists the police from time to time with their investigations. All five movies are a must see for fans of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series a few years ago. The stories are slightly different takes on some of the books Doyle wrote. All four movies in this set are 90 minutes each and very interesting. This set picks-up with Doyle after he gets out of medical school and starts his practice. In the first movie Dr. Bell comes to visit Doyle after hearing about a hooded cyclist following a lady. The acting, directing, costumes, sets, scenery, and music are all first rate in all four movies. The DVD quality is very good. Sound and clarity was excellent. I highly recommend this series for the whole family. August 1, 2007

Doyle before Holmes

Ian Richardson has played Holmes previously. The same characterization, with a bit more warmth, shows up in his Dr. Joseph Bell. For anyone who enjoys Victorian mysteries, this should provide delight. May 7, 2007

Dr. Bell and Dr. Doyle, and the beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, with Ian Richardson and the production values to admire

When we last saw the great forensic professor of medicine, Dr. Joseph Bell (Ian Richardson), from the University of Edinburgh, it was 1873. He and his callow young medical student, Arthur Conan Doyle, had just solved a horrendous series of murders, but at great cost. The young woman Doyle had loved was the last victim and the murderer had escaped. It's now a few years later. Doyle has his degree and is trying to establish his own practice. Bell has chosen to become friends with Doyle, drawn by Doyle's eagerness to learn, his intelligence and his concern for the sick and weak. Bell also is touched by the knowledge of Doyle's great loss. He is sensitive enough not to comment on Doyle's physical change. Instead of a callow youth, Doyle, while still tentative in manner, now looks something like a Hollywood hunk. Where earlier Doyle had been played by Robin Laing, a fine actor but no matinee idol, now he is played by the handsome actor Charles Edwards. Bell and Doyle have become friends, something on the order of mentor and student, and Bell continues to help Doyle when mysteries arise. In Murder Rooms, four do.

This series of four 90-minute episodes has some of the greatest production values I've ever come across in British period dramas and mysteries. It must have cost a bundle to mount them and may account for Murder Rooms not being renewed for further episodes. We don't simply have dark, wet cobblestone streets, foggy nights and horse-drawn carriages. There are great dining rooms and entrance halls, a lavish banquet, Victorian velvet settees and well-groomed riding horses, lecture halls sided by carved, polished dark oak with seats filled by prosperous elderly gentlemen in evening clothes. There are cold autopsy rooms occupied by grey-green corpses with all sorts of scalpels and saws, jars and liquids, trays, tables, weights and drains. The costumes are detailed and look bespoke; even the beggars' rags look authentic.

But what of the stories? Are they good mysteries? I'm not as enthusiastic as I am about the sets and costumes. The proposition of the series is that Conan Doyle's great fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, was patterned after Joseph bell. Bell is a clever, shrewd doctor who observes and thinks. He notices things. He'll use his eyes, his nose, his finger tips, not just his scalpel, to pry out secrets from a corpse. Much of this was evident in Dr. Bell and Mr. Holmes: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes. This was the first program, available on a separate DVD. Dr. Bell led the way there, demonstrating and teaching the science of deduction to Doyle as he developed answers to murder. In the four episodes of Murder Rooms, two significant changes have crept in. First, the focus has shifted a good deal to Conan Doyle. He is the one who finds himself dealing with mysteries, and Bell is the one who shows up to demonstrate a solution. Because Doyle is now a handsome young man with a strong profile, the programs center as much or more on him and his situation as they do on the much older Ian Richardson. Second, the mysteries seem to me not to be so much clever puzzles as to be somewhat exotic events. We wind up dealing with mummies, Irish terrorists with an iconic sword, seances and dead loves, a fascination for capturing souls as a person dies, and a deus ex machina that depends on madness, tunnels and caves. I suppose the writers didn't have the time or the inclination to develop the sort of complex plot lines which would have taxed Sherlock Holmes...I mean, Dr. Bell...and so settled for next best; that, and the need to put forward Doyle as a more traditional, handsome leading character. Still, the production values and Ian Richardson save the series. Murder Rooms is fascinating to look at and Richardson provides enough dry energy to keep us interested.

There are four stories for us: The Kingdom of Bones, The Patient's Eyes, The Photographer's Chair and The White Knight Stratagem. For the most part, the acting features that solid, assured British manner which is such a pleasure to see. Some old friends we noticed include Ian McNeice, John Sessions, Crispin Bonham Carter, Warwick Davis, Annette Crosbie and Henry Goodman. The DVD transfer is very good. February 28, 2007

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