The Hound of the Baskervilles (1)

This Sunday afternoon classic serial version of Hound was produced by Barry Letts and directed by Peter Duguid. The Dartmoor location work is excellent, as is the Carl Davis score, but they are the only impressive aspects of this four-parter. In his first leading TV rôle after Doctor Who, Tom Baker seems to be as stiff and uncomfortable as the solitary cyclist's saddle; his performance was supposedly inspired by that of American actor William Gillette. Meanwhile, Terence Rigby's Watson is plain dull. Shortly after the serial was transmitted, it was revealed in the Radio Times letters pages that the hound was too docile; it only "attacked" Nicholas Woodeson once a string of sausages had been tied around the actor's neck!