Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke Interview on "Daytime Live"

well there have been many fictional detectives U PUO MRA even cluso but none seem to have captured people's imagination like sir Kernan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and partner Dr Watson the latest theatrical partnership in these roles is Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwick who have starred successfully on both television and now at the windom's theater in London winds theater in London let's see them now in action how do you find the word grotesque grotesque well strange remarkable no no no no no no no no no surely there's more to it than that some underlying suggestion of the tragic the terrible if you cast your mind back to those narratives with which you've inflicted a longsuffering public you will see how often the word grotesque has deepened into the criminal suppose that fair of the redheaded men was grotesque enough at the outset huh all that most grotesque Affair the five orange Pips yes we de straight from matter was conspiracy another word puts me on the alert how did you that have just had the most incredible and grotesque experience homes and what's Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwick hello they have enjoyed enormous success all the uh stories have enjoyed enormous success what do you put that down to I think probably the miracle that Granada achieved was by doing the Original Stories um I think it was dreamt up by Michael Cox way back in 1973 our producer really to put literature straight in regard to Dr Watson because not The Duffer anymore but the the good friend the gentleman the medic and the soldier not The Duffer and I think by doing the stories I'm finding that they actually stood up to the test of film but it really is an extraordinary relationship between these two men isn't it they are very close yes they're Club men I mean I think one is a very private creature isolated they're both very lonely people at the beginning of the books and they meet because they can't afford the rent do you think it's it's also this sort of Superman image that Sherlock Holmes has I mean he solves everything I think he intrigues Watson with the speed of light of his deduction and logic and I think that it becomes apparent I think especially during this play we're doing now at windham's theater Windam theer you were at school play um wind there it's because I think we're exposing the Friendship we're releasing the friendship through a little bit more also we're very lucky Edward and I because we played the parts for 2 and a half years together and um I'm not bored of it at all yet because I haven't learned how to play I was going to say I five years you've done it on television and three years Edward Fe is there anything different for you Edward about doing it now in the theater well it's I mean the main difference is just a completely different medium uh and you are concentrating for 2 hours on a play whereas with the filming it's a day long job and it goes on it's just a very different feeling I think it's it's it's an enormously enjoyable experience just doing something different did you realize the success until you went into the theater no no I I must be truthful I didn't I have been working since some sort of isolation in studio work filming for five years and when we went to the public Marketplace is what the theater is suddenly to find that there were children out front I wasn't sure what the audience was I I know we sold a 75 countries and were translated into every kind of language Under the Sun and I'm thrilled I I mean I still can't believe that but I am beginning to be aware of the fact because of the children that it appeals to a much wider range of people than I thought 5-year-olds sixy olds seveny olds are sitting there glued to the play and they come around afterwards and I I've always thought holes was a sort of um damaged penguin or kind of black Beacon I never thought he was heroic at all I wouldn't Tross the road to meet him but there's also this aming amazing thing don't you think that Agatha Christie wrote about uel PUO um but nobody ever thought that U PUO was real but they do believe in holes and Watson don't they I mean do you get letters to you as as real people well not exactly as real people but I certainly think they the characters are very real to a lot of people and I think it's partially because colel do rather like it's a different kettle of fish in way but uh Ian Flemington with James Bond his detail and the precise detail of actual places and things which I mentioned in the stories somehow make give it a terrific sense of reality and terrific sense of Victorian and Edward in London I remember when when sir um alist cook said to me many years ago about 1981 before we started he said that the three most memorable people in the last 100 years are Churchill Hitler and Sherlock Holmes now this was meant to encourage I was terrified that's really done it now I mean I didn't want to play the part in the first place I thought I would fail cuz there've been so many people playing it before but to think that one of those three people never existed at all is extraordinary we I mean the fan mail we get is at Edward and Jeremy but we get they get at Baker Street 2 to1 B Baker Street the national Abby Bank letters to Sherlock Holmes asking them to solve cases and they write back and say Mr Holmes is retired and living in Kent beekeeping are you enjoying being caught up in this I mean as I said 5 years on television and now starring I have to confess I'm basking in it now I must I didn't enjoy it I was very poorly for a while and I found him an enormous strain to play he is a very dark private man and you have to really drain yourself out cu I'm much too bullant for the part to be very bloodless and I found that a great strain but now we're in the theater with this wonderful pink success as I call it um amazing response and we're taking it around the world we're playing till next September in at Windam and then we're taking it very slowly around the world I think we're bringing it to Birmingham I'm hoping and um and then I think Manchester and then the states so it's a lovely yes good time but anybody going to see it is not to expect a real who done it it's all the deduction it's all the clues but the case happens as the play ends what you get is their relationship and you learn during the course of the play much more about them there's a lot of deduction a lot of sloping and then in the second half J M Paul our brilliant writer has given us a Cuda theat which is the secret and it's a part of Holmes's life which has not been revealed and it's a very exciting dramatic moment and I'm very happy that Ted's on stage with me to get me off every Edward you're Dr Watson is this in this is far more of a rounded hole creature Jeremy mentioned before that he's very often played as a bit of a buffoon a bit of a bumbler yes I think that dates from the the early films which I I love and I think they had a validity then because it was the war and I think there was an attempt to use the stories in some way as propaganda to encourage the Americans to join us in the second world war in in a minor way but um we times have changed and I think one has to start from the premise that he's a doctor and that's a difficult job for anybody um also I think being a doctor to some extent is being a detective and I think that's part of the appeal that he has for for the for homes um but it's it's the play is very different because Jeremy Paul has taken a slightly different Direction with it and that makes it very very interesting do you see yourself becoming another mouse trap an establishment in I tell you you know this business we're in this profession we're in it's hard enough to survive let alone have a success so when one has a success although it's not a very palatable word in this country they're much more fond of it in the states I'm enjoying every giddy moment of it I'm loving having people outside the stage door I'm having be with my friend Edward because we're best friends off as well as on we're having a bow great we look forward to seeing it in Birmingham Edward Hardwick Jeremy Brett thank you for joining us today [Applause]

Channel: Lauren Welch

Views: 50,470

Keywords: sherlock holmes, watson, granada, interview, jeremy brett, edward hardwicke, daytime live

Id: A9cXAXeFYJI

Length: 8min 46sec (526 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 22 2010