The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983 film)

The Hound of the Baskervilles 1983 is a British television film directed by Douglas Hickox, starring Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Churchill as Dr. John H. Watson. It is based on Arthur Conan Doyles The Hound of the Baskervilles.

That was the fly in our ointment. Initially, an unseen fly. You see, when Sy Weintraub was planning the films, he was unaware that the copyright on the Holmes stories was about to expire in England and he had to go through a great deal of legal negotiations with the Conan Doyle estate in order to gain permission to use them. However, he was totally ignorant of Granadas plans to film a series with Jeremy Brett...Weintraub was furious, because hed paid a lot of money to get permission from the estate and here was Granada saying, Thank you but were going to do it. So Weintraub took them to court. He had a very good case, apparently but eventually there was an out of court settlement for an extraordinary sum of money something like two million pounds which was enough for Weintraub to cover his costs on both The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles, and make a profit, too. And so he wrapped the project up.In the original novel, the farm girl who is kidnapped by Sir Hugo Baskerville dies of fear and fatigue while escaping it is implied the Hound frightens her to death three of Baskervilles companions witness the Hound killing the nobleman. In the film, the girl and the horse she has acquired in her escape stumble upon the Grimpen Mire. She manages to drag herself to safety, only to be met and molested by Baskerville. She is the solo witness to Baskervilles demise and the existence of the Hound. ........

Source: Wikipedia