Our local PBS station has started re-running the old Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series from the 1980s, in what is, essentially, the old “Mystery!” time slot in which the series first aired on Thursday nights in the Middle Tennessee market.

This series is wonderful — not only because of Brett, who is riveting in his arrogance, but also because of Edward Hardwicke, who eventually took the role of Watson. Too many old adaptations have portrayed Watson as a sputtering fool, the type of person whom Holmes would never have tolerated as an acquaintance, much less a close friend or associate. Of course, Watson is not Holmes — only Holmes is Holmes — but Watson is no fool. He has to be smart enough to truly appreciate Holmes, and smart enough to engage Holmes. At the same time, he has to be the viewer’s surrogate in understanding (or sometimes, failing to understand) Holmes. Hardwicke, and his predecessor David Burke, played it perfectly, although for intangible reasons I like Hardwicke better.

I was shocked to read in Wikipedia just now that Brett himself played Watson in a 1980 stage production of “Crucifer of Blood,” opposite Charlton Heston as Holmes! According to Wikipedia (insert disclaimer here), that puts him among only three actors to have played both Holmes and Watson professionally.