The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1980)

Of the many incarnations of Sherlock Holmes on film and television, surely the most curious and intriguing is the Russian television series featuring Vasily Livanov as Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Watson. Filmed entirely in Russia (the then Soviet Union) between 1979 and 1986, it consists of five series broken over eleven episodes. Although an attempt to export the program, made at the Monte Carlo Television Festival in 1982, proved unsuccessful, the series was deemed one of the most successful in the history of Russian television. The series (and Holmes, of course) was so popular that as recently as January 2000 a celebration was held by Russia's Independent Association of Newsmakers at the Nostalgia Art Club honoring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle brilliant detective. Amongst the guest were both Livanov and Solomin who had last played the characters some 14 years previously for Central Television.