#britiain

The Trial Of Queen Catherine Of Aragon (1848)

Edward is even more remarkable. . . . I'll give you an example. You can publish it or not, it makes no difference to me. When I came out of the asylum, the person who collected me was Edward Hardwicke. He took me to an Italian restaurant. I had a pasta and a glass of red wine. He then drove me back to my home where we sat and had a cup of tea. It was Edward Hardwicke. He is one of the loveliest people, and I suppose he *is* the best friend that any man has ever had....in life. Which is after all how Doyle describes Watson.

- Jeremy Brett on his co-star Edward Hardwicke

In the same way everyone has their personal James Bond, so too do people have their own Sherlock Holmes. Mine will always be Jeremy Brett. Not just because he came closest to the original Sidney Paget drawings in the Strand magazine, nor that he was supported by an excellent film production crew who were loving to the source material. With all due respect to all the other wonderful actors that have played Holmes over the many decades, no one can come close to Jeremy Brett.

What makes Brett stands out was he captured Holmes’ inner life better than most because he inhabited the same qualities and struggles. Not only was he tall, atheletic, and aristocratic but his best friends were the actors who played Watson on screen. Moreover the secret to his success was how Brett’s life mirrored the deep and hidden vulnerability behind Holmes’ frigid exterior.

In 1976, Jeremy Brett married Joan Sullivan Wilson, who died of cancer in July 1985. it perpetuated his descent into depression for which he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Brett was prescribed lithium tablets to fight this condition. He suspected that he would never be cured, and would have to live with his malady. And yet he wanted to return to work, and to play Sherlock Holmes again because he shared an affinity with the famous detective. 

The first episode to be produced after his discharge was a two-hour adaptation of The Sign of Four in 1987. From then on, the changes in Brett's appearance and behaviour slowly became more noticeable as the series developed. One of the side effects of the lithium tablets was fluid retention; Brett was putting on weight and retaining water. The drugs were also slowing him down. According to Edward Hardwicke, Brett smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day, which "didn't help his health." He also had heart troubles. His heart was twice the normal size; he would have difficulties breathing and would need an oxygen mask on the set. "But, darlings, the show must go on", was his only comment.

During the final decade of his life, Brett was treated in hospital several times for his mental illness, and his health and appearance visibly deteriorated by the time he completed the later episodes of the Sherlock Holmes series.

“In later life, Philip was asked about the effect of this fractured upbringing, with more than its fair share of wanderings, betrayals, and losses. He replied, “The family broke up. My mother was ill, my sisters were married, my father was in the South of France. I just had to get on with it. You do. One does.” That is the authentic note of stoicism, embattled but unlamenting. It is very rarely struck these days; with the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, I suspect, we will hear it less and less. The stoical strain has become not merely unfashionable but easily mocked, or, worse still, suspected of being a cover for harsh psychological damage. Philip would have argued that some sort of shield is required, by all of us, whatever our situation, to fend off any sudden blows and to steel us for the slough of boredom. There are no fair shares.