Sherlock Holmes: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

...And 5 That Sucked

5. Matt Frewer - The Hound Of The Baskervilles

Not exactly known for creative artistry or bold innovation, the purveyors of cut-price sentimentality at Hallmark brought exactly the kind of predictable bland inoffensiveness to their four Holmes TV movies in 2001 and 2002. Given this deliberate attempt to bring absolutely nothing new to the party, doing a version of the already often adapted Hound Of The Baskervilles feels like an odd choice. As with much of Hallmark's output, it was cheaply filmed in Canada (utterly failing to pass for Victorian England), with Canadian TV actor Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer in the lead. Frewer is a capable actor, but he has tended to work in family friendly movies and animation, giving him a style that is absurdly overplayed against the flat, uninspired backdrop of Hallmark's attempts at a period crime story. Frewer never seems to settle into the role and doesn't appear to know what to do with the material, with his characterisation appearing to change to suit the needs of each scene. More often than not, he takes Holmes' patronising arrogance and dials it up to a level in which the character is nothing but thoroughly unlikable.