The series was a joint project between Japan's Tokyo Movie Shinsha and the Italian public broadcasting corporation RAI. Six episodes were directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 1981 until problems with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estate led to a suspension in production. By the time the issues were resolved Miyazaki had turned to other projects, and thus the remaining episodes were directed by Kyosuke Mikuriya. The show was finally aired in 1984. The same year a film version edited together of two of the episodes directed by Miyazaki was released alongside Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in Japanese theaters, entitled Meitantei Hōmuzu Gekijouban.
Music
Two pieces of theme music are used for the Japanese version: The opening theme is "Sora Kara Koboreta Story" and the ending theme is "Thames Gawa no Dance", both performed by the Japanese duo, Da Capo. The series' international versions had a single piece of theme music for the opening and ending credits. The frequent soloists are Joe Farrell on soprano, tenor and alto saxophones and flute and Milt Jackson on vibes. This English theme does not exist on the UK DVD's from Manga, instead instrumentals of both the Japanese opening and ending themes were used.
In 2002, Pioneer Entertainment released the series on DVD. 6 volumes or 'Case Files' were released. Each disk was double sided with the Japanese version on one side and the English dubbed version on the other side. On 1 February 2010, Manga Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in the United Kingdom as a HMV exclusive set. It has since become available in other outlets. It only contains the English dubbed version. This release also lacks the episode title cards, though the episodes are listed on the DVD case and menus. Discotek Media released the series in a complete, unabridged DVD box set with English and Japanese versions on September 30, 2014.
Blu-ray
On 21 November 2014, Bandai Visual released the restored complete series on Blu-ray in Japan as a 4-disc set.
Episodes
Note: B = episode number by broadcast order, Y = episode number by YouTube order. The Original air date listed is that of Japan, the first country to air the show.
