In the late 1970’s the American owned Sheldon Leonard Productions teamed up with TVP, a polish production company to film “Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson”. Running to 24 episodes the series stared British character actors Geoffrey Whitehead and Donald Pickering as Holmes and Watson, with Poland filling in for late Victorian Britain as a filming location. The British TV rights were picked up by ITV.
Excited by the possibilities, the publisher Grandreams bought the license to produce a hardback annual accompanying the series. To their misfortune ITV’s deal fell through, and the series was never aired in the UK. Despite having lost their “tie-in”, and with nothing to lose, Grandreams released the annual anyway into the hands of a presumably baffled public.
As it happens the annual is something of a treasure trove. Cartoon adventures of Holmes and Watson (both surprisingly square-necked) sit alongside profiles of real Victorian criminals, and stills from the ill-fated TV production. Most of the stories are new ones, and a surprisingly high number have Holmes taking on ethnic minorities depicted with the cultural sensitivity of a particularly flippant conquistador.
The Badger's Sett 
That’s amazing, I’d love to read this. I loved watching the series back in kindergarten, and to this day, Geoffrey Whitehead remains the best screen Holmes of them all.
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