The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle is the only Sherlock Holmes story that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set during the Christmas season. Although the bulk of the story takes place on the day after Christmas (known as Boxing Day in the UK), it’s understandable that director David Carson and scriptwriter Paul Finney set the story two days earlier, on Christmas Eve, when they adapted The Blue Carbuncle (originally broadcast on June 5, 1984) for Granada Television’s Sherlock Holmes series.

It is a few days before Christmas and the Duchess of Morcar (Rosalind Knight) returns to her hotel room to discover that her precious gem known as “the Blue Carbuncle” has been stolen. The logical suspect would seem to be plumber John Horner (Desmond McNamara), an ex-con, who was doing some work in the Duchess’ room earlier that day.

Horner is out Christmas shopping with his wife Jennie (Imelda Brown) for their children when Inspector Bradstreet (Brian Miller) approaches and places him under arrest. Horner protests his innocence, but hotel employee James Ryder (Ken Campbell) has identified him as the culprit and, as far as the police are concerned, his previous record merely confirms his guilt.

On the morning of Christmas Eve at 221B Baker Street, the world’s only consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) is fighting off ennui by contemplating a minor mystery: identifying the owner of a bowler hat. As he explains to his friend and colleague Dr. John H. Watson (David Burke), the hat and a large Christmas goose had been brought to him by a policeman named Peterson (Frank Mills) who found them on the street after he tried to break up a street fracas.

Since the goose was in danger of spoiling, Holmes recommended that Peterson take it home for dinner while he kept the hat. There was a card on the goose identifying its owner as Henry Baker, but there are hundreds of Henry Bakers in London. As he studies the bowler with a magnifying glass, Peterson runs into the flat.

Peterson: Mr. Holmes, the goose! The goose, Mr. Holmes!

Holmes: Well, what of it, man? Has it come back to life and flapped off through the kitchen window?

No, it turns out that something even more surprising has happened. The goose contained a large gem: the Blue Carbuncle! Holmes recognizes it immediately and is delighted to have a much more substantive mystery to solve. His first step is to place an ad in the paper requesting one Henry Baker to come and reclaim his hat and goose. (Holmes has ordered a substitute.) Mr. Henry Baker (Frank Middlemass), an unemployed professor, turns up at the Baker Street lodgings to retrieve his belongings, but it is obvious that he knows nothing about the hidden gem.

As any Holmes aficionado knows, it is giving nothing away to state that Holmes solves the mystery, identifies the real criminal and amasses the necessary evidence to clear John Horner. Their labors now completed, Holmes and Watson sit down to a late Christmas Eve dinner.

Watson: Midnight. Merry Christmas, Holmes.

Holmes: And to you, my dear friend.

Watson: Just a minute. Holmes, I cannot contemplate eating while John Horner is still on remand. Do you suppose Bradstreet or one of his colleagues might still be at their desks?

Holmes: Well, you're quite right, Watson. Come, let's go.

Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Carbuncle can be seen on-line at Netflix's Watch Instantly service and is also available for rental (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Volume Three) .