A Sherlockian 2025

After a year where aside from a few stage plays and the ever-dependable 'Sherlock & Co' there has been a Sherlockian drought, 2025 promises to be a Sherlockian cornucopia. Please see below for my preview of the delights to come.

 

Television

Sherlock & Daughter - Filmed in Ireland, this upcoming mystery series created by Brendan Foley, features Sherlock Holmes (David Thewlis) becoming embroiled in a malevolent conspiracy involving his archenemy Professor Moriarty (Dougray Scott), and ending up joining forces with Amelia Rojas (Blu Hunt), a young Native-American woman whose mother was recently murdered. As they work together to crack the case, Amelia also sets out to prove that the great detective is her long lost father. The series is due to air on 1st January 2025, on the CW Network in the US, whilst Discovery+ will air the series in the UK and Ireland.

Watson - A new US mystery drama series starring Morris Chestnut as the good Doctor, from the creators of 'Elementary', which picks up one year after Sherlock Holmes's apparent death at the hands of his archenemy Moriarty, with Watson resuming his medical practice by opening the "Holmes Clinic" in Pittsburgh to treat patients with strange and unidentifiable medical issues. Soon however, he must face his past when evidence surfaces indicating that Moriarty is still alive. The series will premiere in the US on CBS on 26th January 2025. The show will move to its regular Sunday night time slot on 16th February 2025.  In the UK, the series will be available via Paramount +.   [Click here for trailer]

Young Sherlock Holmes - A series based on the Andrew Lane books, directed by Guy Ritchie (returning to the world of Holmes) that will be released on Amazon Prime later in 2025. The series follows a 19-year-old Sherlock Holmes who becomes involved in a murder at Oxford and uncovers a conspiracy, and has recently finished filming across the UK, including Cardiff, Monmouth, Bristol, and (unsurpisingly) Oxford.  Playing Holmes is Hero Fiennes Tiffin (Tom Riddle in 'The Goblet of Fire'), with his uncle Joseph Fiennes and Natascha McElhone playing Holmes' parents, Donal Finn as Moriarty, and Max Irons as Mycroft.

Theatre

Sherlock Holmes: A New Adventure - A new stage play written by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel (who have previously adapted 'The Girl on the Train' and 'The Da Vinci Code' for the stage), and directed by Rob Ashford, that will premiere at Aviva Studios in Manchester in Autumn 2025. The play will then run in the West End and on Broadway.

Sherlock Holmes and the Hunt for Moriarty - A world premiere production from Blackeyed Theatre that will tour the UK starting in September 2025. This adaptation, by the team that has previously adapted 'The Sign of Four' and 'The Valley of Fear' follows Holmes and Watson as they race across Europe to bring Moriarty to justice. 

Sherlock Holmes And The Twelve Days Of Christmas - This Christmas-themed offering had been written by comedians, writers and actors Humphrey Ker and David Reed, who were both members of successful sketch comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls. Although not a musical, instead a play with songs, the most exciting news about it is that it features new songs penned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (working together for the first time in 13 years). Rice (whose son is producing) indicated recently on ITV's Lorraine show that it should be in the West End for Christmas 2025 at a venue to be confirmed (but my money's on ALW's The Other Palace).

Two other excellent one-man Sherlockian plays also continue to tour the world - Tim Marriott in 'Watson: The Final Problem'  (click here for tour dates) and Nigel Miles-Thomas in 'Sherlock Holmes: The Last Act'  (click here for tour dates).

 

Audio

Sherlock & Co - This amazing podcast continues its journey through the 60 canonical stories with updated modern-day versions of each of them. It also has a growing online fandom to rival that of 'Sherlock' at its height. 

The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast - Another amazing podcast focusing on the production of the Granada series, and featuring interviews with both cast and crew.   [And they organise excellent events and produce prop replicas as well]

 

2024 Awards: Part Four - Sherlock Holmes

Theatre/Events

15) Holmes & Booth 'Solving London'  (Sarah Wise)  [2024 RLG Lecture] - Wellington Hotel, London
14) The Devil's Foot/The Solitary Cyclist [Jeremy Brett SH Podcast] - Riverside Studios

13) Sherlock: The Initiation (Escape Room) - Escape Lincoln

12) Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Fiend - Barn Theatre, Cirencester
11) Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four: An Opera - Leeds School of Arts, Leeds
10) Sherlock Holmes and the Strange Case of Miss Faulkner - New Wimbledon Theatre Studio
9) Hudson & Lestrade [Janet Ayers & Matt Parsons] - Groundlings Theatre, Portsea  [HolmesFest 2 2024]
8) The Sherlock Holmes Experience - Knockhatch Adventure Park
7) Selecting a Ghost  [Based on ACD Short Story] - Stanley Arts
6) The Play's The Thing [Including Cushing SECO Reconstruction & 'The Mystery of Cader Ifan'] - Midlands Art Centre

5) BBC Holmes Service [Vin Adams, Nick Downes & David Penrose] - Groundlings Theatre, Portsea  [HolmesFest 2 2024]

4) The Mind of Moriarty (Escape Room) - West 12 Shopping Centre, Shepherds Bush

3) Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases [Eille Norwood] - Alexandra Palace  (BFI LFF 2024)

2) BRETT CON 2024 [Jeremy Brett SH Podcast] - Guildford County School

1) Sherlock Holmes and the Poisonwood - Watermill Theatre, Newbury

 

Sojourns

10) Birmingham
9) Sussex Downs
8) Kent/Sussex
7) Sherlockian Theatres (1 & 2)
6) Sidney Paget
5) Bristol
4) Greater Manchester
3) Watlington
2) Belvoir Castle & Flintham Hall
1) The Peak District - Part 2

 

 

Video/Audio

3) Sherlock Holmes Short Stories (Read by Hugh Bonneville) - BBC Sounds  

2) 'Fogtown: Mystery of the Moth Napper'  [TV Pilot]  (click here to view)

1) 'Sherlock & Co'  [Podcast series]   (click here to listen)   [currently up to 23 of the 60 canonical stories, told over 65 episodes so far]

Aside from on-stage, not much new Sherlockiana. However, next year will be very different. Click here for my 2025 Sherlockian preview.

2024 Awards - Part Three: 'Doctor Who'

TV Stories

10) Space Babies
9) Empire of Death
8) The Devil's Chord
7) The Legend of Ruby Sunday
6) Joy To The World
5) 73 Yards
4) Tales of the TARDIS: Pyramids of Mars
3) Dot and Bubble
2) Boom
1) Rogue

Big Finish

10) 'The Last Day'
9) 'Dark Gallifrey: The War Master 1-3'
8) 'Classic Doctors, New Monsters 4: Broken Memories'
7) 'The Trials of a Time Lord'
6) 'Once and Future: Coda - The Final Act'
5) 'Deathworld'
4) 'The Quin Dilemma'
3) 'The Stuff of Legend'
2) 'Goth Opera'
1) 'The Paternoster Gang: The Casebook of Paternoster Row'

Events

4) January Signing Spectacular (Fantom Films) - St, Michael's Hall, Chiswick

3) Richard E. Grant (Wimbledon Book Festival) - Wimbledon High School

2) Target Novels Signing (Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, James Goss, Mark Morris, Gary Russell) - Forbidden Planet, London

1) DW: The Stuff of Legend - Cadogan Hall 

 

Merchandise

5) 'The Adventures Before' Anthology

4) Fifteenth Doctor Target Novelisations

3) 'Emperor Davros' Action Figure

2) Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Vortex Action Figures

1) 'DW: The Collection - Season 25' Blu-Ray

2024 Awards - Part Two: TV & Film

TV

10) The Traitors - Series 2
9) Time - Series 2
8) Race Across The World
7) Taskmaster
6) Douglas Is Cancelled
5) Nightsleeper
4) A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
3) Extraordinary - Series 2
2) Only Murders In The Building - Series 4
1) Ludwig

Films

8) Seize Them!
7) The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee
6) Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
5) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
4) Paddington in Peru
3) Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
2) Wicked
1) Deadpool and Wolverine

 

2024 Awards - Part One: Theatre

Plays

15) Cluedo 2 - Richmond Theatre
14) The Hills of California - Harold Pinter Theatre
13) Houdini's Greatest Escape - King's Head Theatre
12) Murder In The Dark - Richmond Theatre
11) The Ballad of Hattie & James - Kiln Theatre
10) The Cabinet Minister - Menier Chocolate Factory
9) Fawlty Towers - Apollo Theatre
8) Drop The Dead Donkey - Richmond Theatre
7) The Lehman Trilogy - Gillian Lynne Theatre
6) Nachtland - Young Vic
5) The Duchess - Trafalgar Theatre
4) Oedipus - Wyndhams Theatre
3) Dr. Strangelove - Noel Coward Theatre
2) A Mirror - Trafalgar Studios
1) The Motive & The Cue - Noel Coward Theatre

Musicals

15) The Wizard of Oz - New Wimbledon Theatre
14) Bronco Billy - Charing Cross Theatre
13) Standing At The Sky's Edge - Gillian Lynne Theatre
12) One Man Musical - Soho Theatre
11) Romy & Michelle: The Musical (WIP) - Turbine Theatre
10) Why Am I So Single ? - Garrick Theatre
9) Hadestown - Lyric Theatre
8) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Ambassadors Theatre
7) I Should Be So Lucky - New Wimbledon Theatre
6) Cruel Intentions - The Other Palace
5) Cake: The Marie Antoinette Playlist - The Other Palace
4) Fangirls - Lyric Hammersmith
3) Mean Girls - Savoy Theatre
2) Becoming Nancy - Birmingham Repertory Theatre
1) Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder ! - Ambassadors Theatre

Magic

3) Jamie Allan's Amaze - Marylebone Theatre
2) A Grand Night of Magic - Clapham Grand
1) Asi Wind: Incredibly Human - Underbelly Boulevard

 

Pantomimes

2) Robin Hood - London Palladium
1) Peter Pan - London Palladium

Sherlockian Sojourns #71: ‘Off Up To Birmingham’ [STOC/3GAR]

Having arranged to travel to Birmingham for a theatre show, I decided to visit the sites relating to two canonical fake businesses – ‘the Franco-Midland Hardware Company’ from ‘The Stockbroker’s Clerk’ and ‘Howard Garrideb Agricultural Machinery’ from ‘The Three Garridebs’. Birmingham has many buildings dating from the Victorian period, but unfortunately, none of the places seen by Holmes and Watson have survived.

Catching an early train from London Euston, arriving at Birmingham New Street a couple of hours later. This is the station where Holmes and Watson would have arrived in Birmingham accompanying Hall Pycroft  [STOC]. However, the station was completely rebuilt in 1960, meaning that none of the station seen by them is still visible. Regardless, I took a few photos.

  

 ‘It was not, however, until we were in a first-class carriage and well started upon our journey to Birmingham that I was able to learn what the trouble was which had driven Mr. Hall Pycroft to Sherlock Holmes’.  [STOC]

 

Exiting the Station, just across the road was the Macdonald Burlington Hotel (formerly The Midland Hotel), the most likely location for the hotel where Hall Pycroft stayed whilst working in Birmingham.

 

‘I was off to Birmingham in a train that would take me in plenty time for my appointment. I took my things to a hotel in New Street, and then I made my way to the address which had been given me’.   [STOC]

 

It was then time for a non-canonical detour. A ten minute walk brought me to Sherlock Street, which was undergoing massive renovation. It was difficult to identify, but #115 is named Doctor Watson House, but was under so much scaffolding that this name plate could not be seen.

Retracing my steps to New Street, I reached the corner with my next port of call, Corporation Street. This was previously named Queen’s Corner, after the visit of Queen Victoria in 1887 (a year before Holmes and Watson visited).

   

Walking along Corporation Street, I finally reached a large roundabout, which now takes the place of 126B Corporation Street, the address, where the ‘Franco-Midland Hardware Company’ had its temporary premises. The property, was demolished to make way for the roundabout in the 1960s.

“ ‘Be in Birmingham to-morrow at one’, said Mr. Pinner. ‘I have a note in my pocket here which you will take to my brother. You will find him at 126B Corporation Street, where the temporary offices of the company are situated’.“    [STOC]

‘126B was a passage between two large shops, which led to a winding stone stair, from which there were many flats, let as offices to companies or professional men’.   [STOC]

 

The middle of the roundabout is Old Square, and features a sculpture to the comedian, Tony Hancock, who was born in Hall Green, Birmingham, on 12 May 1924. Appropriately the Square is the former home of the Birmingham Blood Transfusion Service  ['A Pint ?  That's very nearly an armful !'] . The sculpture was unveiled by Sir Harry Secombe in 1996. It has since been moved a few yards, to the centre of Old Square. Unfortunately, I have no record of Hancock ever playing Holmes.

I then caught a bus from a nearby stop to Aston Station. It was to this part of Birmingham that the unlucky Nathan Garrideb was sent on a fools errand, based on a fake advertisement.  [3GAR]  Garrideb presented at Grosvenor Buildings, which no longer exists (and may not even have ever existed), but Grosvenor Road still does. I therefore took a photo of the most likely building.

 

     

‘Howard Garrideb Constructor of Agricultural Machinery, Binders, reapers, steam and hand plows, drills, harrows, farmers’ carts, buckboards, and all other appliances. Estimates for Artesian Wells. Apply Grosvenor Buildings, Aston’    [3GAR]

 

Catching a bus back into central Birmingham, (passing the site of Conan Doyle’s practice with Dr. Reginald Ratcliff Hoare which I had visited previously) I had around an hour-and-a-half to waste before my theatre performance, which I spent in visiting a few nearby shops and having some lunch. My walk to the theatre led me past two points of interest. Firstly, Victoria Square, with its statue of Queen Victoria, sculpted by Thomas Brock, originally in marble then later recast in bronze. The Square was in process of being set up for Christmas Markets. Secondly, just up from the theatre, Baskerville House, actually named for John Baskerville, a local printer and type designer who was responsible for inventing "wove paper", which was considerably smoother than "laid paper", allowing for sharper printing results, which is the library for University College Birmingham.

 

Entering the theatre, in plenty of time for the matinee performance of ‘Becoming Nancy’, I had an enjoyable afternoon. I then made my way back to Birmingham New Street and my train home to London.

 

 

Sherlockian Sojourns #70: As Seen On Screen – ‘The Second Sign’

It was time to tour some more Central London filming locations, this time the locations used in the Granada dramatisations of ‘The Second Stain’ and ‘The Sign of Four’.

Catching the Northern Line from Morden, it was a twenty-five minute journey to Charing Cross and then a ten minute walk to Carlton Gardens (passing the little door in the Duke of York steps that is mentioned in ‘His Last Bow’). Number 2, Carlton Gardens was used as the exterior of the home of the Foreign Secretary (Stuart Wilson) and Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope (Patricia Hodge) in Granada’s ‘The Second Stain’.

  

 

The property also appears in ‘Murder By Decree’ (1979) in a scene where medium Robert Lees (Donald Sutherland) points the home of the killer out to Inspector Foxborough (David Hemmings). Field-Marshal Kitchener also lived here from 1914-15

From here I retraced my steps back to The Mall, and turned right onto Horse Guards Road, walking almost all its length until I reached the Clive Steps leading up to the Foreign Office, with John Tweed’s statue of Robert Clive (of India) at the top. Holmes (Jeremy Brett) and Watson (Edward Hardwicke) walk past this statue on the way to see Lady Hilda Trelawney-Hope  [Granada SECO].

A short walk to Westminster Abbey, then cutting through Dean’s Yard, I made my way to Barton Street (previously visited for being Baker Street in both ‘Murder By Decree’ and ‘Without A Clue’ (1988)), and at its end, Cowley Street. Number 17, Cowley Street appeared as the home of Eduardo Lucas (Yves Beneyton), and is where Lestrade (Colin Jeavons) finds the titular ‘second stain’.  [Granada - SECO]

  

Two doors down, at Number 15, there is a plaque to Radio Holmes, John Gielgud.

  

Returning to Horse Guards Road, I reached 1 Horse Guards Road, a building I desperately want to get inside as its courtyard features at the end of ‘Enola Holmes’ (2020), where Enola manages to avoid her two brothers. However, the side gates were walked past by Holmes and Watson on their way to see Lady Hilda.  [Granada – SECO] 

   

Making my way across Parliament Square, I reached Westminster Bridge, and ‘Boadicea and Her Daughters’/’Bouddican Rebellion’, a bronze statue located near Portcullis House and Westminster Pier, facing Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster across the road. The statue was sponsored by Prince Albert and placed in 1902. It was here that Holmes, Watson and Inspector Atheleny Jones (Emrys James) board the Police vessel, just before the boat chase in Granada’s ‘The Sign of Four’. There was also a photo shoot done with Jeremy Brett at this site, with Big Ben in the background.

      

 

Crossing the bridge, I reached the South Bank Lion, an 1837 sculpture which started life sitting on top of James Goding's Lion Brewery building, and the steps leading down from the bridge to the South Bank, which is where Watson collects a newspaper.  [Granada - SECO]

 

Walking back across the bridge, I caught the Jubilee Line to Tower Hill, and the Tower of London, which is seen in the background whilst Holmes is waiting on the Police barge for the start of the boat chase.  [Granada – SIGN]

It was then time for a twenty-five minute walk along the Thames, following the route of the SIGN boat chase, until I reached Wapping Station and Wapping High Street. Here a short distance along was Phoenix Wharf, which was used in the scenes with Toby, Holmes and Watson running around London.   [Granada - SIGN]

    

Further along Wapping High Street was King Henry's Wharf, which was also used in the scenes where Toby is following the scent around London. Specifically, the Wapping Old Stairs were used when Watson walks down to the waters edge. It was also used in the background when the Police boat is travelling into position.   [Granada - SIGN]

Returning to Wapping Station, I continued on, reaching New Crane Wharf, which was used in some of the scenes where the Baker Street Irregulars are hunting down the whereabouts of the Aurora.   [Granada - SIGN]

Back at Wapping Station, I caught an Overground train to Hoxton, where directly outside the station is Museum of the Home. This includes a ‘Rooms Through Time’ exhibition exploring how ways of living, furniture, textiles and decor have adapted through the ages, from the wooden interiors of the 1630s and Victorian floral motifs to mid-twentieth-century geometric designs and speculative visions of a future home. My main focus was on a recreation of a Townhouse from 1878.

 

  

I then caught a #243 bus to Old Street Station, had a brief detour to the Museum of Methodism for a Probation-themed exhibition, and then Northern Line back to Morden.