Sherlock Holmes might be the world’s most famous detective, but very little is known about his creator. In The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle, the love-hate relationship between the troubled author and his character is explored.
The feature-length drama also uncovers the secrets that drove Doyle to kill off Holmes at the height of his popularity.
‘We pick up the story where Doyle’s alcoholic father has just died in an asylum, his wife is terminally ill and he’s having an affair,’ says Douglas who plays the author.
‘At that point there’s a lot of stuff going around in his head so it’s not surprising that he did what he did. It’s thought he was haunted by his father from beyond the grave.
‘In many ways, Doyle based the character on his father. So the only way he could escape him was to kill Holmes off and move on.’
During this disturbed period, Doyle agrees to work with a biographer called Selden (Tim McInnerny) to write n account of his life. And slowly, the reasons he ‘murdered’ Holmes become quite clear.
‘It’s a very dark and brooding film. I think it will appeal to everyone, whether you are a Sherlock Holmes fan or not’, says the 39-year old Glaswegian actor, whose TV credits include Lipstick on Your Collar and Frances Tuesday.
The drama also stars Brian Cox as Doyle’s mentor Joseph Bell, Saskia Reeves as his wife Louise and Sinead Cusack as his mother, Mary.
‘I’d never read the books so I didn’t know what all the fuss was about,’ says Douglas. ‘So I bought the complete works thinking I ought to read them. But I ended reading them for pleasure, because they are fantastic stories.
‘I am now a major fan of the guy and it was such a big honour to play him.’
By Tim Randall