Sherlockian Audio Reviews – 'The Baker Street Four' (Audible Original/Paradiso Media)

 

 

Writer(s):   Penny Chrimes, based on the graphic novel series written by Olivier Legrand, J.B. Djian and illustrated by David Etien,

 

Narrator/Holmes & Watson:   Paterson Joseph/Sam Dale  (with Bill Nighy as Watson the Cat)

 

Summary: The Baker Street Four follows Billy (Charlie Brand), Charlie (Kiki May), and Tom (Nathan Moses), three young apprentices of Sherlock Holmes who assist the famous detective in London’s dodgy East End. With the help of their faithful cat, Watson and Sherlock’s beloved housekeeper Mrs. Hudson (Celia Imrie), the foursome takes local crimes into their own hands while Holmes is off solving mysteries abroad, in what is a cross between 'The Baker Street Boys' and 'The Famous Five', with Watson the Cat replacing Timmy the Dog. The audio features three adventures - 'The Orphans of Hope Street', 'The Prisoner of Bedlam' and 'The Mayfair Kidnap', and is free to Audible members.

 

Review:  Another excellent Sherlockian Audible Original following last year's 'Moriarty: The Devil's Game'. I had read the first volume of the graphic novel many years ago, and this audio has encouraged me to get the other three volumes. The cast were all excellent, in particular the three young actors playing the three human members of The Four, and Bill Nighy's purring narration was sublime. I also enjoyed how Holmes' regular absences were explained by reference to canonical cases (namely 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', 'A Scandal in Bohemia' and 'The Speckled Band'), and Watson (the Doctor not the cat)'s involvement in later cases was also a treat. Definitely recommended for the young (or not so young) Sherlockian in your life.

 

 Rating:      (5/5)  

 

Link to audio:  https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Baker-Street-Four-Audiobook/B0BLPBPCZP

 

 

 

THEATRE REVIEW: 'A Sherlock Carol' (Marylebone Theatre)

 

THEATRE REVIEW: A Sherlock Carol

Written & Directed by Mark Shanahan.

(Marylebone Theatre, London) 

 

 

The show of the 2022 Christmas season was clearly ‘A Christmas Carol’, with five other versions playing in London and Stratford-upon-Avon – at the Old Vic (with Owen Teale as Scrooge), at the Bridge Theatre (Simon Russell-Beale), at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre (Robert Bathurst), at the Rose Theatre in Kingston (Penny Layden), and at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (Adrian Edmondson). There had also been three new television versions on Netflix (Luke Evans), Sky (Surrane Jones) and Apple TV (Ryan Reynolds), along with a filmed version of the previous Christmas’ version at Alexandra Palace (adapted by and starring Mark Gatiss) on BBC4. However, it was another version that interested me, ‘A Sherlock Carol’ by Mark Shanahan, which had had a successful off-Broadway run over Christmas 2021. Unsurprisingly, this combined the story of ‘ACC’ with a certain consulting detective, and had found its perfect home literally three minutes around the corner from the Sherlock Holmes Museum at the Marylebone Theatre. 

I caught the play in its final week, getting a central seat, around three-quarters of the way back. I was very much looking forward to this, and had bought an ‘ASC’ bauble alongside my programme. My hopes were all met, and I was hooked from the moment one of the characters intoned ‘Moriarty was dead to begin with’. [Even the breaking of four of my rules  (1,3,5,7) didn't affect my enjoyment] The story took place soon after Holmes’ return to London following the ‘Great Hiatus’ where he travelled incognito for three years, having seemingly died at the Reichenbach Falls. Therefore, we find ourselves many years after the events of ‘ACC’, with Tiny Tim having grown to be a doctor at a poor hospital. We also find a Holmes being haunted by the memory of Professor Moriarty, his only true foe, isolating himself from all his former friends, including the reliable Watson. However, an impossible murder of a reformed miser, a threatening letter, and the missing Blue Carbuncle proves to be just enough to intrigue the great detective, and enable him to overcome his own ghosts.

The story makes excellent use of its sources, with the Christmas tale of ‘The Blue Carbuncle’, running alongside a new mystery for Holmes to solve, with ‘ACC’ providing the structure within which they take place. I found myself regularly smiling at throw-away references to both its main sources.

Playing the sullen Holmes was Ben Caplan, most famous for being the police officer who marries Miranda Hart’s character in ‘Call The Midwife’, and opposite him as Scrooge was Kammy Darweish, best known to me as the hilarious guru from ‘Doctor Who - Survivors of the Flux’. Both were excellent. The other four actors played a multitude of parts between them, including many from both the Sherlockian and ‘ACC’ canons. I would wish to draw particular attention to Richard James whose excellent Doctor Watson (underused due to the plot), was only topped by his pantomime dame-esque Mrs Dilber, Scrooge’s housekeeper. The costumes were amazing, and the ever-changing set brought many different Victorian locales to life.

I would hope that this production might become a regular London Christmas tradition for me, preferably still playing at the Marylebone Theatre. Definitely recommended should it be revived next year.

 

Rating: (5/5)     

 

 

2022 Awards: 'TV, Film & Theatre'

Film & TV

 

 

TV Programmes

10) Ms Marvel  (Disney +)

9) Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney +)

8) Wedding Season (STAR on Disney +)

7) Wreck (BBC3)

6) The 1% Club  (ITV1)

5) Star Trek: Picard - Series 2  (Amazon Prime)

4) Leverage: Redemption - Series 2 (Amazon Prime)

3) This Is Going To Hurt  (BBC1)

2) The Traitors (BBC1)

1) Only Murders in the Building - Series 2  (Disney +)

 

Films

10) Ticket to Paradise

9) Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

8) Thor: Love and Thunder

7) Lightyear

6) The Batman

5) Scream (2022)

4) Bullet Train

3) Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness

2) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

1) See How They Run

Theatre


Musicals

4) Dear Evan Hansen  (Noel Coward Theatre)

3) Only Fools & Horses - The Musical  (Theatre Royal Haymarket)

2) Back To The Future - The Musical (Adelphi Theatre)

1) But I'm A Cheerleader - The Musical  (Turbine Theatre, Battersea)

Plays

15) The Lavender Hill Mob  (Richmond Theatre)

14) Looking Good Dead  (Richmond Theatre)

13) The Lad Himself  (Upstairs At The Gatehouse)

12) Kenneth Williams: Cult Figure   (Jermyn Street Theatre, London)

11) Murder on the Orient Express (Chichester Festival Theatre)

10) The Two Popes  (Rose Theatre, Kingston)

9) The Southbury Child  (Bridge Theatre, London)

8) Cluedo  (Richmond Theatre)

7) Death Drop 2: Back In The Habit  (Garrick Theatre)

6) The Mirror Crack'd   (Churchill Theatre, Bromley)

5) Love All  (Jermyn Street Theatre, London)

4) Death Drop (Criterion Theatre)

3) Upstart Crow  (Apollo Theatre)

2) The Unfriend (Minerva Theatre, Chichester)

1) Good Luck, Studio  (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford)

[Honourable Mention: The Chalk Garden (Theatre Royal, Windsor); Dishonourable Mention: The S*x Party (Menier Chocolate Factory)]

Magic/Cabaret/Comedy

10) The Greatest Magician (Epsom Playhouse)  [James Phelan]

9) Marvels of Mystery (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford)   [Richard Jones/Megan Swann/Danny Lee Grew/Dean Leavy]

8) Solve-along-a-Murder-She-Wrote  [Broadway Malady]   (Epsom Playhouse)

7) Charlie Russell Aims To Please  (The Other Palace, London)

6) Wonderville  (St. Albans House, Haymarket)    [James Long & Maddy/Billy Kidd/Lolo Brow/Felipe Reyes/Mercury]

5) X-Treme Magic  (New Wimbledon Theatre)  [Richard Cadell/Pete Firman/Richard Jones/Askadio José/Solange Kardinaly]

4) Festival 14 Comedy Club  (Westferry Circus, London)   [Milton Jones/Jessica Fostekew/Sunil Patel]

3) Brydon, Mack & Mitchell (New Victoria Theatre, Woking)

2) The Witches of Oz  (The Vaults, Waterloo)

1) The Ehrlich Brothers: Dream & Fly (OVO Arena, Wembley)

[Honourable Mention: Could It Be Magic ? (Wilton's Music Hall)  [Paul Aitchison]]