The Master Blackmailer (2)

Part one ended with Holmes smiling at Milverton across a negotiating table, the trap baited and Milverton counting his money in advance. But this concluding instalment springs the trap, and it is worth the wait.

The plan, as ever with Holmes, is simpler in the execution than in the description. Milverton has given the great detective a thorough run for his money, and Holmes, who does not enjoy being tested by blackmailers, has had time to think. The conclusion sees the king of blackmailers brought down, his grip on a string of helpless clients broken for good. The letters are dealt with, the victims get their lives back, and Lady Eva Blackwell is free to marry without a sword hanging over her head.

What happens to Milverton himself is best left for viewers who have not seen the story, though Sherlockians will know the shape of it. What matters is that a man who made his living from other people's misery discovers that misery collects interest. There is a fitting neatness to his downfall, and the episode earns it rather than announcing it.

Jeremy Paul wrote it, Peter Hammond directed. Robert Hardy is back as Milverton, and he makes the fall of the character feel genuinely terrible rather than merely deserved. Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke are Holmes and Watson, with Norma West, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Serena Gordon, Sarah McVicar, David Mallinson, Nickolas Grace and Colin Jeavons completing a cast that has carried both parts.

Two-part stories sometimes sag in the middle. This one does not, because the villain is good enough to hold the whole length on his own shoulders. The Master Blackmailer ends with Baker Street back to normal, which for Holmes means a pile of newspapers and the next case waiting. Milverton's reign is over, and the city is quieter for it.