Sherlock Holmes - Surviving Episodes of the Late '60s BBC Program, Starring Peter Cushing, on DVD

Only five episodes of the BBC's celebrated 1960s Sherlock Holmes series survive. Coincidentally, all five star the inimitable Peter Cushing (Star Wars) as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective, with Nigel Stock as Dr. Watson. And, fortunately for Holmes fans, they are finally being made available on DVD in North America, courtesy of A&E.

Having already starred as Holmes in the famous Hammer film "Hound of the Baskervilles," Cushing was uniquely suited to craft the definitive portrayal for these five captivating televised mysteries. For his first outing as the BBC's Holmes, Cushing revisits the moors of Dartmoor for a feature-length version of Holmes' most well-known case, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Subsequent adventures pit his vaunted intellect against murderers, cannibals and Australian bushwackers in faithful productions of The Sign of the Four, The Blue Carbuncle, A Study in Scarlet and The Boscombe Valley Mystery.

Here's one we overlooked! But thanks to reader Suzanne Ferree, who gave us the heads-up about this release, we can pass along to you about A&E Home Video's Sherlock Holmes - The Collection, coming to DVD on December 15th. For $29.95 SRP, this 3-disc set running 290 minutes brings you all 5 surviving stories from the late-'60s BBC program; all other episodes have unfortunately been wiped/"junked" per the network's standard procedure at the time (much like other BBC programs of the era, such as many of the early Doctor Who serials).

The show first aired in 1965, with "series one" (in the U.K., the word "series" is used like we use the word "season" in the USA) starring Douglas Wilmer as the title character. In 1968 the show returned for "series two" under the program name "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, retaining Nigel Stock as "Doctor Watson", but replacing Wilmer with Peter Cushing as "Sherlock Holmes". Cushing's notably long list of theatrical films not only include Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and a pair of Doctor Who cinematic efforts (Dr. Who and the Daleks; Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.), but also include his 1959 version of Holmes in Hound of the Baskervilles. Cushing's televisioninterpretation of that same classic Sherlock story, which aired in two parts for the show's second series, are among the surviving items which are included on this set:

• Series 2, Episode 3: "A Study in Scarlet" (9/23/68)
• Series 2, Episode 4: "Hound of the Baskervilles, Part 1" (9/30/68)
• Series 2, Episode 5: "Hound of the Baskervilles, Part 2" (10/7/68)
• Series 2, Episode 6: "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" (10/14/68)
• Series 2, Episode 15: "The Sign of Four" (12/16/68)
• Series 2, Epsiode 16: "The Blue Carbuncle" (12/23/68)