Arthur & George

"The following is based on true events," begins this three-part BBC-aired Masterpiece Mystery! series adapted from the 2005 novel by Julian Barnes based on the real-life involvement of Arthur Conan Doyle in the case of George Edalji, son of an East Indian father and a Scottish mother living in rural England, who was convicted for a string of livestock mutilations in 1903 and served three years in prison. Edalji wrote to Doyle asking for help in clearing his name and reputation, and Doyle, whose wife had passed away, took the case in part to escape his grief. The series reworks the details into a classic British mystery, with Martin Clunes as widower Doyle, a man inspired to play detective in a real-life case, and his secretary Alfred "Woody" Wood (Charles Edwards) serving as his skeptical Watson. Readers of Barnes' novel may be disappointed that this adaptation discards much of the character study and social portrait of prejudice in Britain, but fans of the ever-expanding universe of Holmes-inspired fiction will enjoy the way the show contrasts the author with his creation, and creates a warm, affectionate relationship between Doyle and Wood that suggests the Holmes/Watson dynamic while still going in its own direction. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)