Sherlock Holmes in the 20th Century

Sherlock Holmes in the 20th Century (1987) is a condensed cinema cut of Igor Maslennikov's celebrated Soviet TV series — watch it online on iFILM. Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin return as Holmes and Watson, this time in a single-film format trimmed from the full two-part broadcast version; the Bruce-Partington Plans storyline was removed to tighten the runtime.

The supporting cast is exceptional throughout: Boris Klyuev, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Elena Safonova and Larisa Guzeeva all appear. Maslennikov's production was unusually close to Conan Doyle's source texts in period detail and characterisation — which is partly why it has held up better than many Western contemporaries from the same era.

Livanov's Holmes eventually earned him an honorary MBE, the British government's formal acknowledgment of a Soviet actor's contribution to an English cultural icon. Stream Sherlock Holmes in the 20th Century online on iFILM.