In 1982, American producer Sy Weintraub partnered with English producer Otto Plaschkes to make six television films of Sherlock Holmes stories. Charles Edward Pogue was enlisted to pen the screenplays but only The Sign of the Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles were ultimately filmed before Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes series premiered in 1984. A proposed third film, Hands of a Murderer was eventually made with Edward Woodward as Sherlock Holmes and John Hillerman as Dr. John H. Watson. In an interview with Scarlet Street, Ian Richardson explained: Denholm Elliot was cast as Dr. Mortimer having previously portrayed Stapleton in the comedy spoof version of the Hound starring Dudley Moore and Peter Cook. He also appeared with "Hound" co-star Connie Booth in the spoof The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It. Booth herself would later appear in 1987s The Return of Sherlock Holmes. A large part of Martin Shaw's American accent was dubbed by another actor in post-production.
Inspector Lestrade is assigned the task of arresting Seldon. Unlike previous versions of the story, he is revealed to be the policeman who arrested Seldon.
Brian Blessed's character Geoffrey Lyons never appears in the novel. In the film version, Lyons is presented as an imposing suspect who is at one point falsely imprisoned for strangling his wife. Holmes' solution to the case ultimately frees him.
The film's Geoffrey Lyons performs the feat of bending a fire iron as an intimidation tactic which was originally performed by Dr. Grimesby Roylott in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band".
Laura Lyons dies in the film, strangled by the murderer to protect his identity. She does not die in the novel.
Stapleton's demise in the bog is included as a part of the film's climax. He ambushes Holmes, Watson and Beryl outside the Hound's lair, but is chased by Holmes into the moor; he stumbles into the mire and sinks to his doom, despite Holmes' attempts to save him. The novel does not depict Stapleton's demise; he simply disappears on the moor and is assumed to have drowned in the mire.
Reception
The scene where Baskerville rapes the girl was criticised for its graphic nature, especially with the scene intercutting the act with the girl's horse struggling and drowning in the mire.
