Basil Rathbone appeared in a series of TV commercials for Getz Exterminators ("Getz gets 'em, since 1888!'"). Rathbone also brought Holmes to the stage in a play written by his wife Ouida. Thomas Gomez, who had appeared as a Nazi ringleader in "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror", played the villainous Professor Moriarty. Nigel Bruce was slated to portray Dr Watson once more but became too ill and the part was played by character actor Jack Raine. Bruce's absence depressed Rathbone, particularly after Bruce died on 8 October 1953, while the play was in rehearsals. The play ran for only three
Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes 1976 "The Return of the World's Greatest Detective" policemen Sherman Holmes suffers from a blow to the head resulting in him thinking he is Sherlock Holmes. John Cleese starred as Holmes' grandson - Arthur Sherlock Holmes - in the comic TV special "The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It" (1977). Arthur Lowe played Dr. William Watson, the original doctor's grandson. Between 1979 and 1986, Soviet television produced a series of five television films at the Lenfilm movie studio, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson". The series were split into eleven episodes and starred