I once thought that Basil Rathbone was the ultimate Holmes, but Jeremy Brett won me over. Plus, the Brett series was far truer to the original stories, sometimes word for word. Too bad his health was failing after the second season.
It still breaks my heart to see how Brett changed over the whole series. I vaguely remember reading that he hadn’t originally wanted to play the character because he got so deep into the psyche of his character that he thought Holmes a bit too crazy for Brett’s own mental health. I LOVED it when Brett quoted canon. Wish they’d done more of the stories.
H Marion Crawford is still the best Watson ever. “One-punch” Watson.