The Red Headed League

An advertisement appears in the paper asking red-headed men to apply for membership of a league that pays well for very little work. Jabez Wilson, a pawnbroker whose hair is the right shade of orange, applies and gets the job. Four hours a day, every day, copying out an encyclopedia in long hand for a generous wage. It is the sort of offer that would make any sensible man suspicious, which is why Wilson only thinks to consult Holmes after the league is suddenly dissolved.

Holmes does not take long. Copying an encyclopedia is busywork, and busywork means somebody wanted Wilson out of the way for the working day. The scheme, when he unpacks it, is a beauty, and behind it sits the name the season has been saving, Professor Moriarty. He only appears here as a name, which makes the mention land harder than any appearance could.

Roger Hammond's Wilson is a splendid fool, honest and easily flattered, and Tim McInnerny, Blackadder's Percy, plays John Clay with the cheerful arrogance of a man who has never once been caught. Richard Wilson's Duncan Ross, John Woodnutt's Mr Merryweather and the rest of the cast keep the machine turning. John Bruce directs, with the script credited to Arthur Conan Doyle and John Hawkesworth. Michael Cox produced, with music by Patrick Gowers and cinematography by Michael B. Popley.

The joy of this one is watching Holmes treat a ridiculous premise with absolute seriousness. A league for red-headed men sounds like a joke, and the joke turns out to be the cover for a serious crime, a clever one at that. Wilson's bewilderment at losing the league is one of the series's best comic notes. Holmes catches it in time, which is what he is for. But the story belongs to Wilson, a man who lost a fine part-time job and gained a better story to tell.