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Call it lack of creativity, or a ravenous media beast in need of new material, or simply the ritual of telling the old stories to new generations. But "Mystery!" has gone and dug up the bones of Sherlock Holmes and dressed them up again in an ingenious two-part "prequel" airing this week and next on PBS. Part 1 (8 tonight on Channel 19) follows a young Conan Doyle to medical school, where he meets Joseph Bell, the eccentric teacher thought to be the inspiration for Holmes. Bell's methods of deduction are considered a tad flaky by his peers. But as Bell warns Doyle, "From the astrologer came the astronomer; from the alchemist, the chemist The quack of yesterday is the professor of tomorrow!" And the literary creation of a century. @ART CAPTION:Charles Dance (Sir Henry Carlyle, from left), Dr. Bell (Ian Richardson) and Conan Doyle (Robin Laing) in tonight's "Mystery!" titled "Murder Rooms: The Dark Origins." @ART:Photo (color) >>>
