The Return of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series) The Musgrave Ritual (1986) User Reviews

A treasure hunt, with a few grizzly discoveries.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 7 January 2020]

The Musgrave Ritual stands as one of the most unique episodes of Sherlock Holmes, it is totally different to all others. The approach, tone and story themselves are all different. Normally the crime is the focal point, here the crime is almost incidental. Holmes is involved in a treasure hunt, where he discovers a crime, and has to solve it. Even the second body seems almost a side story.

Terrific casting in this one, James Hazeldine had bags of charisma, which allowed Brunton to shine over Musgrave, not that Michael Culver is any less an actor, he's again just perfect casting.

Brett is terrific, as is Hardwicke, it once again touches on the addiction of Holmes.

Excellent. 9/10

An Atmospheric and Eerie Adaptation

[ericksonsam60 · 8/10 · 16 February 2012]

A servant at the Musgrave Manor disappears after one them finds out an obscure written document that has been in the family history for generations, whose meaning remains unknown. This episode is stylish and atmospheric. The final minute at the closing credits is especially creepy. Patrick Gowers music in this one is quite unique and helps pack the punch. Jeremy Brett as usual continues prove why he is the definitive Holmes, Edward Hardwicke as expected makes an excellent Watson, and Michael Culver is a standout as Reginald Musgrave. Also, worth noting is that Jeremy Paul (who wrote many of the Granada episodes) won an Edgar Award for his adapted script.

The Musgrave Ritual

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 27 May 2012]

As a big fan of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series, I may be biased in saying I love this episode, but I do. For me, the best of the "Return" series is between The Devil's Foot and The Six Napoleons, but The Musgrave Ritual is just as good. It is splendidly made as usual, always feeling as though you are actually in the setting with a typically evocative atmosphere. The music really gives the adaptation its punch by how haunting and beautiful it is, the script is intelligent and sometimes playful in tone and the story is full of mystery and suspense, plus it is very creepy especially in the final couple of minutes. James Hazeldine and Michael Culver are excellent in their supporting turns, but as usual the two leads are the ones who dominate with Edward Hardwicke quietly intelligent and Jeremy Brett as commanding as ever. In conclusion, a very good episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The Holmes Story that influenced Thomas Stearns Eliot

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 1 November 2008]

Recently I watched the Jeremy Brett & Edward Hardwicke version of THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL for the second time. THe first time was when it was shown in the U.S. originally in the 1980s, but now it was being repeated on channel 21 in New York on a Tuesday night. It holds up quite nicely, with a good cast including James Hazeldine as Brunton and Michael Culver (Roland Culver's son) as Sir Reginald Musgrave. The period style of clothing and furnishings and transportation help keep the story's realism alive.

Most people are aware of THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL from the Basil Rathbone - Nigel Bruce Universal film, SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH. Like all of them it has been brought up to the 1940s, and the war is involved in the background, but the basis of the story is the meaning of the ritual and what it entails. In the film it was expanded a bit (in a bit of rewriting) to have more value than what Holmes and Reginald Musgrave discover it means in the story. It also is the reason the villain in that film commits his murders.

SPOILER COMING UP:

The original story is Holmes telling Watson of an adventure of his prior to their meeting in 1881 in A STUDY IN SCARLET. In 1878 Holmes is visiting a friend from his university, Sir Reginald Musgrave. During the visit Holmes notices the extremely able butler in the Musgrave Manor, Brunton. But one day Holmes learns from Musgrave that he was forced to fire Brunton because he caught him going over personal family archive papers late at night in the Master's Study. Brunton manages to coax a week more at the job from Musgrave (so as not to lose face in front of the other servants). However both Musgrave and Holmes discover that the butler has disappeared. Brunton had a reputation of being a Lothario type, and one of the maid servants (Rachel Howells) is acting peculiarly. Soon she too is missing. Holmes asks Musgrave what Brunton was looking at, and the so-called "Ritual", an old family coming into title ceremony is read. Holmes notices that it seems to have meaning regarding movements and measurements around the estate. Using some calculations he and Musgrave follow it until they reach an ancient section of the Musgrave Manor, and find it leads to a cellar with a heavy stone door on top. They lift it, and find Brunton inside, dead from suffocation. They also find a bag of odd looking items that has been tossed in the pond on the estate. Gradually Holmes concludes that Brunton got Rachel to assist him in opening the cellar, and he handed her the bag of items, but she dropped the door on him in revenge for him trifling with her earlier. As for the items in the bag, Holmes in reciting the ritual's lines realizes the ritual refers to Charles I's execution, and that the bag's contents are the original crown of the Stuart monarchs.

Except in two differences the script sticks close to the story. As pointed out in the trivia on this production, Watson is included in the story itself - he is not just listening to Holmes retelling it. In fact, Holmes' use of cocaine is brought in when Watson silently watches Holmes shooting up when the Detective thinks he is alone. The other difference is that the maid (played by Johanna Kirby) is never seen again at the end of the story, but in the episode her body appears in the pond, an apparent suicide.

The actual story ended up in the verse play MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL (about the killing of St. Thomas a'Becket) by T.S.Elliot, where he uses the opening words of the ritual ("Who had it? He who is gone. Who shall have it? He that will come!") in the play. Elliot was a keen fan of Conan Doyle, and would even spoof Professor Moriarty in OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS as "McCavity".

The fate of the regalia of the Stuarts is known, but not quite as simple as the story has it. Charles I lost most of the royal regalia in a ship disaster in Scotland in the Civil Wars in that country, and attempts have been made to try to locate the site of that wreck. Only one other monarch's jewels is the subject of as much keen interest: King John's regalia and property were lost in a sudden flood that drowned many retainers of his in 1216 in a place in England on the channel known as "the Wash" It too has never been located.

I Plan to Memorize the Musgrave Ritual Chant

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 11 February 2014]

A faithful adaptation of one of the best of the Holmes stories. It has to do with a butler who gets wind of a document that is actually a kind of treasure map. Unfortunately for him, he hooks up with an unstable maid who gets in the way of his realizing an end to all this. The butler is caught in Musgrave's study, rifling through important papers, and is summarily fired. Despite pleading for a couple days to prepare (and do whatever it is he is going to do), Musgrave give him till the next day. This sets up a series of events based on a set of statements that have come to be known as "The Musgrave Ritual." They have to do with locations and positions, but are also threatening in their own way. Holmes and Watson begin to sort out the craziness, involving the disappearance of the butler and the crazy chambermaid, and in the process begin to decipher the Ritual. Clothing has been found indicating that people may have drowned, but that makes no sense. It leads to a cellar and a series of discoveries. It is kind of like Poe's "The Gold Bug" in some ways. Holmes always has a great sense of spatial relationships and this is his top asset here. There is atmosphere and suspense and a wonderful conclusion to this. Brett and Hardwicke really do themselves proud here. One might compare this to one of the Basil Rathbone Holmes efforts.

'Quintessential Deduction and Trigonometry'

[DerekLostEverything · 10/10 · 4 September 2023]

It's been said a million times before and I'll point it out again, Jeremy Brett was born to play the great detective. He not only breathed new and invigorating life into the well-worn character, but became the blueprint for those that came after him. The mannerisms, movements, cadence and quirks. The organic humor. You name it, he had it in spades. 'The Musgrave Ritual' is one of my personal favorites; not only within the Granada series, but of the whole Sherlock Holmes canon. The story as told here has a couple of clever work-arounds, while remaining faithful to the original text. The addition of Watson in this episode, as well as moving the happenings forward a few years, makes complete sense; and it's handled very well. The acting is top notch and Brett is the ON. The subtle humor in the first act is worth mentioning, because it gets the ball rolling before the tale takes a darker turn. I hope more people unfamiliar with the series find it. It truly is fantastic.

Excellent episode

[grantss · 10/10 · 3 December 2022]

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are invited to the estate of a university acquaintance of Holmes, Sir Reginald Musgrave. Holmes isn't exactly enthusiastic about the holiday but things get interesting when the butler disappears. Due to the circumstances surrounding his departure Sir Reginald relates to Holmes the contents of a cryptic document that has been in his family's possession since the mid-17th century, the Musgrave Ritual.

An excellent episode, the best of the series thus far. Like many of the recent episodes, and in contrast to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, it is not necessarily about a murder. In this case it is essentially a treasure hunt.

The cryptic document, Holmes' decoding of it and the treasure hunt it leads him on make for engaging and intriguing viewing. The disappearance of the butler adds a fair bit of intrigue too...and tragedy.

Entertaining Tale of Greed and Murder.

[rmax304823 · 8/10 · 29 July 2012]

Holmes and Watson are invited to stay at the home of an old college chum, Musgrave. It's one of England's stately old homes and one of the most picturesque in the series, a moat, and broad lawns with a solitary majestic oak.

The Butler, Brunson, has been having some intrigues with the maid and the stable girl. He's brighter than young Musgrave, and when Musgrave finds him riffling through the papers of the estate he fires him on the spot. Whereupon Brunson disappears, leaving behind all his personal effects, even his hard drive.

It develops that the particular paper Brunson was examining was a copy of the centuries-old Musgrave ritual, which the family had always dismissed as a bit of nonsense. "Where was the sun? Over the oak. Where was the shadow? Under the elm." And so on. "A treasure hunt," cries Watson.

Well, the elm of the ritual was struck by lightning and is long gone but Musgrave recalls it was 64 feet tall. Where did its shadow fall? Holmes solves that problem with a bit of trigonometry that, curiously enough, the Ancient Greeks used to measure the height of one of the pyramids of Egypt. The Greek stood next to the pyramid at sunrise and watched his own shadow, long at first, then shorter as the sun rose. He knew how tall HE was and when his shadow was exactly as long as his height, he made a mark in the sand where the shadow of the top of the pyramid fell. Then he measured the distance from the base of the pyramid to the mark in the sand. Elementary, my dear Thales.

But then the story turns a bit. Brunson, sharp fellow, had figured it out too but when he tried to find the treasure he was killed by the maid he'd betrayed. The treasure turns out to be bits of old metal and a few pebbles. Of course there's more to it than that but let's not spoil it.

Nice mystery, nice performances, beautiful scenery. What's not to like?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a master of all subjects

[ravimirna · 9/10 · 9 August 2020]

Another brilliant story brought to screen by Jeremy Paul's good screen play. Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke are one of the few pairs who have fantanstic on screen chemistry and being a huge fan of them both, my appreciation will be superlative degrees only. Here we have a dose puzzle and Mathematics which makes another interesting story among " who done it " type of stories. I personally feel " Return of Sherlock Holmes " being the best among other seasons.

The Musgrave Ritual

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 14 April 2019]

David Carson directs another atmospheric and cinematic adaptation of Conan Doyle's short stories.

Holmes and Watson attend a shooting weekend at the mansion of Sir Reginald Musgrave, an old university friend of Holmes.

Holmes behaviour is erratic because he has been on cocaine. He has been entertained by the learned butler Brunton (James Hazeldine.)

Brunton's recent reputation has been erratic. Since the death of his wife he has been a womaniser. Sir Reginald is forced to fire Brunton when he catches him looking at some private papers. He got a week's notice but the next day he disappears. Later on the maid Rachel, engaged to Brunton also goes missing.

All of a sudden the shooting weekend comes alive for Holmes. He examines the Musgrave Ritual the document that Brunton was caught examining.

Holmes surmises that this ritual could lead to a treasure hunt, exactly what Brunton was always after.

Brett is in full flourish in this episode, there are some nicely shot scenes such as Holmes on the hunt standing on the boat in the moat. Hazeldine is very good as the butler Brunton. The only bum note is probably Sir Reginald could recall the exact measurements of an old tree from childhood.

Terrible adaptation

[donlessnau-591-637730 · 9/10 · 29 June 2020]

This was the worst I've seen in the Brett series which has been excellent so far. This is an awful version of the Rathbone version and nothing like the Doyle story. Really bad.