I have read “The Purloined Letter,” and like Poe’s first detective Dupin story, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” its three principal characters may as well be Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, and Inspector Lestrade. Which brings to mind Dennis Potter’s 80’s British TV series The Singing Detective, which is nothing like Sherlock Holmes.
Potter is perhaps better known for Pennies from Heaven, a BBC production from 1978 starring Bob Hoskins, that was later adapted into a Steve Martin movie. I can’t think of an American television series that rivaled Dennis Potter’s unique vision until David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.