Alfred Hitchcock Presents: My Dear Watson (1989)

Friends, back on the evening of September 29th of 1985 – the place to be on that Sunday was planted firmly in front of the television set watching NBC – as that is when the first episode of Amazing Stories was debuting as well as The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents premiere episode. The latter actually had a made-for-television film consisting of four remakes of classic Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes – which aired on NBC the night of May 5th of ’85 and proved quite popular. While that popularity led to a series being given the green light – it just didn’t manage to grab the audience numbers that NBC was looking for – not even with Amazing Stories as it’s lead in. The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents lasted for a single season but the draw of a good anthology show is hard to resist – that is probably why the USA Network picked up the series and produced it for another three season. All manner of genres were covered by the updated television series – drama, mystery, crime, and horror were tackled on the show – always with an intro and outro by Alfred Hitchcock himself, colorized segments taken from original episodes.

Eventually The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents dropped the new from its title and while many of the episodes for the 80’s series were remakes from both the original series as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour – there were originals stories too. Such as My Dear Watson which originally aired on April 22nd of 1989 and stars Brian Bedford as Sherlock Homes, with Patrick Monckton as Dr. Watson and John Colicos as Inspector Lestrade. Suprisingly enough Brian Bedford is connected with an earlier post I made today – the Louis Prima record tie-in for Walt Disney’s Robin Hood – as Bedford was the voice of Robin Hood in the 1973 animated feature.

The story for My Dear Watson concerns the reappearance of Sherlock Holmes after his assumed death along with Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. Dr. Watson having just learned of his dear friend returning to 223 Baker Street rushes to meet him – where we learn a rather interesting if disturbing detail since Holmes has been away – the continued embarrassment heaped upon Inspector Lestrade has pushed the poor man into a sanitarium. Thankfully he has had none other than Dr. Watson to assist him in his recovery and it is in the nick of time too – as that very night after Lestrade joins the duo for a drink – Watson is kidnapped. Seeing this as a means of making amends and restoring his good name – Lestrade successfully convinces Sherlock Holmes to let him join him in an attempt to rescue Dr. Watson!

In closing I wanted to present some fun facts for you concerning My Dear Watson. One is that John Colicos while perhaps best known for his role as the villainous Count Baltar in the Battlestar Galacita series or as Dahar Master Kor in the Star Trek universe was featured in an earlier Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode entitled Deathmate. The second is the episode was written by Susan Woollen – who not only appeared in both B.J. and the Bear and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo but wrote for such shows as The Incredible Hulk, The Master, and even The Equalizer.