a Murder Rooms Appreciation Page

[hachinana87]

[katigori]

Ian Richardson as Dr Bell in Murder Rooms: The White Knight Strategem

[heckyesmurderrooms]

The update you didn’t expect!

What .. my latest update was... ages ago? Sorry for the lack of posts as of late, but I have been a little busy giving this blog a bit of a makeover. 

The most important reason for this move is that I’ve realised I want to bring this space to a wider audience, also outside of the tumblr-platform.

With all the pictures, information and other fine things accumulated on here -- thanks in great parts also to you all, you fantastic guys -- it’s time to get out into the wilderness of the Holmesian communities out there and offer what this space has to give for the interested.

And for that, the pure blog format is a bit too constricting. I decided to expand it with some aspects of a website.

So now, the new heckyesmurderroooms has a proper home landing page, a Question&Answer, a further links page, and a proper big photogallery!

Thoughts, objections? Message me :)

Even more features are in planning. That is why, sadly, I cannot promise to post at reasonably regular intervals in the time to come. But some things are already queued for tomorrow!

Warm wishes to you, and all best ;)

[heckyesmurderrooms]

The full high-resolution version of this picture from The Photographer’s Chair.

Big thanks to the great @hellyescharlesedwards who digged this out ages ago and permitted me to eventually post it here.

[heckyesmurderrooms]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Joseph Bell & Arthur Conan Doyle Characters: Joseph Bell, Arthur Conan Doyle, Original Characters Additional Tags: Case Fic, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Angst, Fluff

Summary:

Dr Bell is a snow mage and Arthur Doyle is a young apprentice of his who has lightning powers. They have to navigate their relationships with their respective gifts as well as their relationship with each other.

Needless to say, it just has to happen while they are investigating a murder.

A magical story in every sense of the word by my friend, whose creation I had the honour of accompanying. :)

[heckyesmurderrooms]

Promo for The Patient’s Eyes, scanned from Starring Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies (the revised 2007 edition).

Yes, you’ve seen that photo already in two different versions (x) (x) but this is the best quality so far .. and it’s an amazing pic anyway so the more, the merrier. ☺

[heckyesmurderrooms]

No but.. I have to say this picture is one of my new favourite photos of Bell & Doyle together.

Not only are they standing so beautifully close (and is that Doyle leaning the slightest bit into his dad friend’s shoulder?), but you can see the actual height difference between Edwards and Richardson very well.

It’s usually not very prominent on screen, but Bell is about half a head shorter than his lanky ACD in this universe and, even the historical irony aside, this is adorable.

Just imagine when they would hug.. with Bell’s nose sticking just so over Doyle’s shoulder. The top of his head against Doyle’s cheek. And how easily Bell could bury half his face against Doyle’s neck and coat lapel.... hahahahhhhahha

actually, you don’t need to imagine very much, because there is a fantastic artwork gifted to me by my very own lanky dear pal.

[heckyesmurderrooms]

Promo for The Patient’s Eyes, scanned from Starring Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies (the revised 2007 edition).

[heckyesmurderrooms]

“When I did a thing called Murder Rooms, when I played Professor Joseph Bell, who was the inspiration for Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, I asked for a glaswegian make-up lady to be engaged specially, and I used to go into her caravan - or her make-up bus thing - in the morning and I’d say: ‘Right, Meg, talk to me.’

Particularily after weekends when I’d been away home talking to my wife, and speaking to her as I’m speaking to you and your listeners now, and [imitates accent] I have to get back to talking like that again, and it just took a little while, you know.”

From a radio interview by ABC with Ian Richardson. Listen on yt

It’s interesting that Richardson seems to have given Bell a slight glaswegian accent after all. As far as I remember, he decided against giving him an Edinburgh one because he thought it does not fit very well with Bell being a heroic character. Now, I’m not very knowledgeable on Scottish accents, but from how he imitates Glaswegian in the interview, it might’ve played better into Richardson wishing to have a deep voice in the part? 

Also check out the other videos on the youtube-channel, they have more Richardson-/Holmes-related material and plenty about british history.

[heckyesmurderrooms]

Promos for Dr Bell and Mr Doyle, scanned from Starring Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies (the revised 2007 edition).

The lower photo was already posted in black&white some time ago.

Many thanks to @wecouldpossiblycomment for recommending me Davies’ book - it really is a great read, very richly illustrated&beautifully crafted all over! 

[hellyescharlesedwards]

“It’s been great [working with Charles on Henry IX]. I already had a connection with him. I first met him in 2000 when he was very young. We were both working with the marvellous Ian Richardson on a drama about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle called Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes. Charles played the young Conan Doyle. He was wonderful.”

~ Annette Crosbie

[heckyesmurderrooms]

It’s lovely to read Ms Crosbie recalls working with Charlie and Ian so warmly :)

[heckyesmurderrooms]

The American distributor for the pilot was a company called BFS Entertainment. They were based in Canada and went bankrupt which explains why the DVD went OOP.

Ah, indeed.. Thanks a lot for the insight! 

[heckyesmurderrooms]

Did you know that the jerkass doctor who Doyle briefly shared a practice in "The Patient's Eye" was actually based on a real person? Apparently the two had a falling out because he read Doyle's mail behind his back...

Oh, indeed, the jerkass doctor is based on a guy with the pretty-sounding name George Turnavine Budd (as my friend likes to say “more like Turnavine Butt, amirite?”). He really was Doyle’s friend for a while until Doyle became fed up with the guy’s messed up character and mind, and later caricatured him in the novel The Stark Munro Letters. The real Doyle sure knew a few colourful types. :DD

[heckyesmurderrooms]

I prefer the "Dark Beginnings" subtitle too. I think it's more accurate and that's the title on the American DVDs. ( For some reason the pilot and the rest of the series have different American home video distributors and the pilot DVD has gone out of print. I might buy it used off eBay or something).

Lovely to hear from you again, @randomnessoffiction, and sorry for the late reply :)

The different American distributors are another strange occurence in the release history of the show, yes. And I did not even know the US DVD of the pilot movie has gone out of print, thanks for mentioning it. That is indeed a shame.

Best of luck with eBay! The only other thing I can suggest here to try is browse some better known home video store websites. You might be lucky. 

A word of advice though, there’s two different versions of the pilot movie released. The British version (titled The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes) is noticeably shorter than the American one (titled Dr Bell and Mr Doyle), so what you have to look out for is the running time. The full version of the film is 117 mins, if you see 102 mins, keep away, that’s the bastardised british release.

If I may ask you a question in turn, though, what version of the series do you have? I’d love to hear which distributor it is and what you think of the quality of the DVDs. :)

[heckyesmurderrooms]

Love this blog! I remember discovering Murder Rooms on PBS quite by chance and was severely disappointed it never got more episodes. By the way what's the proper subtitle for the show, is "The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes" or "Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes"?

Thank you for your kind message! It is lovely to meet new fellow fans, and oh, you are not alone in feeling disappointed over the show’s cancellation. To cheer you up, there is the following beautiful gif done by @reginaldmaudling explicitly for the purpose of relieving anger over this circumstance:

(ahh, better, isn’t it? it’s Charles Edwards himself, too)

The proper subtitle is a bit of a mystery. The opening credits of the show refer to it as Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes, but the British Film Institute lists it under the name The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, as do most other film websites. It’s even sold under different names if I am not mistaken. 

So choose your personal favourite - I prefer to call it by the Dark Beginnings subtitle, to be honest, because it describes more accurately what the show is about. It is not much about Bell and it is even less about Bell as “THE real-life Sherlock Holmes”. It is about Doyle, his friendship with Bell, and how this could shape his future creative process in creating the famous detective. So “The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes” sounds just about fitting. But choose your own favourite. :)

[wecouldpossiblycomment]

Some stunning behind the scene pictures of Ian on the set of The Kingdom of Bones, the fourth episode of Murder Rooms. (Photo by Maroussia Richardson. With the courtesy of my dear friend Sharon Mail)

[heckyesmurderrooms]

“Quick, Doyle, Bell is being held hostage by a stuffed polar bear, he is in dire need of you, Brave Knight in Shining Armour!!” 

Also, to enhance your experience of picture number 5, have some Johnny Rivers. 

Thank you, time and again, for posting these, @wecouldpossiblycomment, and I can’t thank Sharon Mail and the generous Richardson family enough! 

[wecouldpossiblycomment]

Ian with Charles Edwards on the set of Murder Rooms (Photos by Maroussia Richardson with the courtesy of my dear friend Sharon Mail)

[heckyesmurderrooms]

I still wonder how the entire cast of this silly show was not arrested on account of criminal adorableness and good looks.

It is a pity by the way Ben Macleod seems to have deactivated his tumblr, he surely would’ve liked the pic of him and Ian on set.