[1] The 1965 production, which followed a pilot the year before, was the second BBC series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, after one starring Alan Wheatley in 1951.

In 1964, the BBC secured rights to adapt any five Sherlock Holmes stories with an option for a further eight[12] from the Doyle estate.

[12] A handful of Doyle's stories were excluded from the deal: The Hound of the Baskervilles because Hammer Films' rights would not expire until 1965[12] following their 1959 film adaptation,[12] and "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House" which had been secured by producers of the Broadway musical Baker Street.

[12] In 1964, an adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was commissioned as a pilot for a twelve part series of Sherlock Holmes stories.

[13][3] Giles Cooper wrote the adaptation and Douglas Wilmer was cast as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson, with Felix Felton as Dr. Grimesby Roylott.

[3] The hour-long pilot was aired as an episode of the BBC anthology series Detective[2][14] on 18 May[3] and was popular enough to re-air on 25 September[3] this time under the banner of Encore which was a BBC2 repeat slot.

And I felt that this was always skirted round which made him appear rather sort of hockey sticks and cricket bats and jolly uncles… a kind of dashing Victorian hero.

[15]At the time, due to strict agreements with the talent unions, BBC drama productions could generally only be repeated once within two years of the first transmission, and thus all twelve episodes were re-run over the late summer and early autumn of 1966,[17] albeit in a different running order.

[17] BBC television drama chief Andrew Osborn reached out to Wilmer's agent about potential availability for a second series.

[18] Neville had previously assayed the role in A Study in Terror (1965) and Nigel Stock felt the film was quite good.

[17] Sterling created a wish list of "International Guest Stars" to appear on the programme[19] including Raymond Massey (an early interpreter of Holmes in the 1931 version of The Speckled Band)[19] as Jefferson Hope in A Study in Scarlet,[19] George Sanders as Mycroft Holmes in The Greek Interpreter,[19] Leo McKern (who later portrayed Professor Moriarty in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother)[20] as Black Gorgiano in The Red Circle (though an adaptation of The Red Circle never took place in the series)[19] and Hayley Mills as Alice Turner in The Boscombe Valley Mystery.

Like Wilmer, Cushing was an avid fan of Doyle[3] and looked forward to portraying the detective correctly.

[18] Economic cut-backs required the production to abandon plans for celebrity villains such as Peter Ustinov, George Sanders, and Orson Welles.

[3] This version was the first actually filmed on Dartmoor[3] and the cost ran £13,000 over budget[23] causing the BBC to scale back their intentions and the bulk of the remainder of the series was shot on studio sets.

[23] As filming continued Cushing found himself facing production difficulties[3] the likes of which had prompted Wilmer to forgo another round.

Other non-running series that have lost episodes include Dad's Army, Z-Cars, The Wednesday Play, Till Death Us Do Part and Not Only...

This was matched with publicity photographs for the episode and images of the script to reveal the end of the story and enable a complete viewing experience.

The 1968 series with Cushing was less fortunate, with many episodes now believed lost, despite the fact that it was made in colour and was shown abroad as late as 1975 (Spain).

Only a handful of the episodes have survived, namely "A Study in Scarlet", "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (two parts), "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", "The Sign of Four" and "The Blue Carbuncle".

The clips were included as a bonus feature on a DVD release of a TV interview with Peter Cushing, available in combination with a book.

This series may seem downright prehistoric to some, but I found it to be surprisingly atmospheric, intelligent, and engaging, and Wilmer and Stock make a fine Holmes and Watson, in the top 25% certainly.

"[35] In 1996 BBC Video released a single VHS cassette in the UK, containing The Speckled Band and The Illustrious Client.

In 2002, BBC Learning released The Hound of the Baskervilles on DVD, for sale by direct mail order in the UK only.

The episodes was re-released by BBC Video for retail Region 2 sale in 2004, along with two further discs containing A Study in Scarlet and The Boscombe Valley Mystery, and The Sign of Four and The Blue Carbuncle respectively.