The Blue Carbuncle

The Blue Carbuncle is a Christmas story, an episode in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes TV series. It's based on the Arthur Conan Doyle story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, which can be read online here. The Husband says this adaptation is faithful for the most part to the original story.

Rosalind Knight, the woman who plays the countess, is also in The Hounds of the Baskerville episode of Sherlock. Frank Middlemass, who is Henry Baker, is in the 1991 Christopher Lee Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady and is Peterson in the 1968 BBC Peter Cushing Blue Carbuncle episode of that Sherlock Holmes TV series.

Sherlock Holmes 7 - The Blue Carbuncle by Peach_Cider

We are big fans of the Jeremy Brett Holmes.

In this context, the carbuncle is not

"an abscess larger than a boil, usually with one or more openings draining pus onto the skin. It is usually caused by bacterial infection, most commonly Staphylococcus aureus, or Streptococcus pyogenes, which can turn lethal."

No! No, indeed! I didn't know that the first time I saw the title of this show. In this context, the carbuncle is

"an archaic name given to any red cabochon cut gemstone. The name applied particularly to red garnet."

Just sayin'. It's easier to look forward to a show about a gemstone that a show about a pussy sore.