A Variant of Unknown Significance

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
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Dr. Watson, Irene and Angus Adler.
Watson.

A Variant of Unknown Significance is the 8th episode in season 1 of the American TV series Watson aired on 30 march 2025 on CBS, starring Morris Chestnut as Dr. Watson. 43 min.

Irene Adler visits the Holmes Clinic because her son Angus Adler has temporary paralysis, and she hints that Angus might be Sherlock Holmes' biological child, which pulls Dr. Watson in emotionally. Watson splits his team of doctors between diagnosing Angus Adler and investigating Irene Adler, then sends Shinwell Johnson to London to Mycroft Holmes at The Diogenes Club to secure the only known sample of Sherlock Holmes' DNA. The DNA and background digging expose the con: Irene Adler has still been running frauds, Angus has been faking his symptoms, and Irene steals the DNA to sell it to Baron Gruner in Austria, but Dr. Watson and Shinwell Johnson use a tracker to intercept her as she tries to flee. The twist is that Irene Adler is the one who is truly ill and was trying to secure money for Angus' future. Watson offers her a possible clinical-trial path and even agrees to be Angus' tutor if she dies.


References to the original Sherlock Holmes stories

  • "Lesser-known royal kick you off" : Irene Adler had an affair with the King of Bohemia in A Scandal in Bohemia (1891).
  • "Sir Charles Barkley, Yorkshire terrier" : Sherlock Holmes had no such dog in the original stories.
  • "Mycroft Holmes, the 'Unfindable Man'" : The brother of Sherlock Holmes in the original stories, but not mentioned as the "Unfindable Man". But he worked for the government.
  • "The Diogenes Club" : Mycroft Holmes was one of the founders of The Diogenes Club in The Greek Interpreter (1893).
  • "The Bruce-Partington Plans" : The plans are the ones of the Bruce-Partington, a secret submarine in The Bruce-Partington Plans (1908).
  • "Adelbert Gruner" : Baron Adelbert Gruner was an Austrian murderer and art collector in The Illustrious Client (1925). Irene Adler was not his friend or client in the original story.
  • "Knife in letters on Watson's desk" : In The Musgrave Ritual (1893), Dr. Watson described Sherlock Holmes' apartment with: "his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece."
  • "Fight Sherlock vs Mycroft" : not from the original stories.


Photos


Cast


Crew

  • Director : Larry Teng
  • Screenplay : Anna Mackey
  • Executive Producer : Morris Chestnut, Aaron Kaplan, Shäron Moalem, Erin Moffitt, Brian Morewitz, Sallie Patrick, Craig Sweeny, Larry Teng
  • Producers : Scott Graham, Geoffrey Hemwall, Aren Ophoff
  • Music : Paul Leonard-Morgan



  1. ↑ Peter Mark Kendall = playing both roles of Adam & Stephens Croft (acting + speaking). Andrew Dobbie & Riley Orr = physical doubles used to make the twin scenes possible.
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