Bees on TVs

 

 (imdb)

THE ELGIN HOUR-THE STING OF DEATH-1955-In the English countryside, a pompous honey loving Prof. Stillchester (Robert Flemyng; later in THE HORRIBLE DR. HITCHCOCK) meets the seemingly eccentric Dr. Mycroft (Boris Karloff) who proposes the theory that local beekeeper and honey producer Hargrove (Martyn Green) is raising killer bees. They team up to try and stop him. Mycroft's maid Alice (Hermione Gingold) puts in her 2 cents also.

 It's based on a novel “A Taste for Honey” by Gerald Heard and was later the basis for the Amicus produced THE DEADLY BEES in 1967. Like a lot of these early anthology TV series, it's almost like a filmed play, with Karloff giving a great performance. 

Some have pointed out that Karloff's character is named Mycroft which was the name of Sherlock Holmes' brother, leading to a conclusion that the character may be Holmes' brother or the great detective himself, now retired. One of 8 series entries directed by Daniel Petrie who went on to work much more in TV and movies (RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961), THE NEPTUNE FACTOR (1973), COCOON: THE RETURN (1988)).

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