Search - Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle - The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes on DVD

Less smoke and cobblestones would be nice

Rev. E. A. Hernandez | 03/30/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Actually this is a good piece of work, and I was excited as all get-out when it first aired. Good solid acting, wonderful storyline (well, we thought so at the time anyway).

To move forward a bit from the other reviews, Dr. Joseph Bell, for whom one of my nephews is named, was indeed a Scots doctor teaching in Ediburgh, and he taught Doyle...who in turn did indeed base Sherlock Holmes on him. Both Holmes' appearance and working methods are entirely Dr. Bell's.

Doyle reports that Dr. Bell would bring in various people off the street to his classes. He would challenge the students, using his methods, to describe everything they observed about the hapless varsity class-victim. Everyone paled compared to Dr. Bell, who of course chose the toughest people to identify. Dr. Bell also had a profound effect on police forensics.

Dr. Bell was very annoyed once he was identified as the "real" Holmes, and cursed a bit more than necessary about it. However, it was suspected from the beginning that he had a soft spot in his cold heart for both Doyle and Holmes. He did not mind the fact that his methods just might spread across the globe. Better for an ignorant world, he would have said.

So get this marvelous piece of fiction that has a full smattering of biographical fact about Dr. Joseph Bell...just don't go looking for any other materials on this man. He liked obscurity...but there may be a reminiscence in a book, and certainly Doyle reminisces about him."