Previously in this blog, I have pitted the various dramatisations of the four Sherlock Holmes novels – ‘A Study in Scarlet’, ‘The Sign of Four’, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and ‘The Valley of Fear’ – against each other by medium. Since my original posts (in 2021 and 2022), I have experienced ten more such dramatisations, and so am posting what may become an annual update.
No further full dramatisations, but the first episode of podcast ‘Sherlock & Co’ utilises the first two chapters.
Click here for up-to-date dramatisations list.
Four further dramatisations across three different media
(bringing the total to 24). The first (in 2021) was an online dramatisation on Facebook Live by Jonathan Goodwin (Don't Go Into The Cellar Theatre Company), which has since been produced in person around the country.
The second (also in 2021) was ’The Sign of Mary’, an episode of the anime series ‘Moriarty the Patriot’ based on a successful manga, featuring (in the English dub) Theo Devaney and Ryan Colt Levy as Holmes and Watson, and Elsie Lovelock as Mary. The series focuses on the ‘bad guys’ but I enjoyed this take on SIGN.
The next was a new opera from ‘Northern Opera Group’, which was the centrepiece of 2024’s ‘Leeds Opera Festival’, and was written by Lliam Paterson. Click here for my review.
Most recently, ‘Sherlock and Co’ which is a weekly drama podcast, in which a modern-day Holmes and Watson (Harry Attwell & Paul Waggott) podcast their canonical adventures. SIGN was their longest adventure yet (10 parts) and rounded out 2024. Despite going on for over six hours, the pace doesn’t let up, as it rushes to a surprising conclusion.
Click here for up-to-date dramatisations list.
‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’
Since my original post I have seen five further stage productions of HOUND, and listened to another audio version (bringing the total to 56 versions). The first of these was an open-air production in the Clandon Wood Natural Burial Site presented by British Touring Shakespeare in 2021, and ran my previous favourite outdoors version close, without quite taking the prize. Click here for my review.
The second was an immersive dinner theatre version later in 2021 from Lost Estate, with the unwieldy title ‘The Great Murder Mystery: London’s Secret Sherlock Holmes Experience’. The food and ambience was excellent, but the dramatisation (by Gillian Greer) was just adequate.
The next stage version, a live radio play on stage from the Crime & Comedy Theatre Company, added another name to ‘actors who have played both The Doctor (in ‘Doctor Who’) and Sherlock Holmes’ – Sixth Doctor actor, Colin Baker, with Terry ‘Davros’ Molloy as his Watson. I saw the play in Redhill in 2022, but it has toured regularly since then, with other WHO guest stars appearing with them as selected venues. The adaptation was well-paced and I enjoyed myself.
The fourth stage version was one that I was due to see in person at the Barbican Centre in London in December 2022, a concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, featuring a score specially written by Neil Brand, with Mark Gatiss as Holmes and Sanjeev Bhaskar as Watson. However, I was not feeling well on the night, and so had to wait to hear it a few months later on BBC Radio 3, and then more excitingly watch a recording of it on BBC4 the next Christmas. Highly recommended if it is ever repeated (but you may be able to find it online).
The final stage version was a one-man version, again featuring Jonathan Goodwin (DGITC), seen above a Pub in Croydon. It was a good adaptation, but the loud music eminating from the main bar was a little distracting.
In early 2021, Audible followed up a previous very mediocre new adventure for Holmes and Watson, with an audio dramatisation of HOUND, now featuring Colin Salmon and Stephen Fry as our heroes, about which the least said the better. Click here for my review.
Click here for up-to-date dramatisations list.
No further dramatisations.
Click here for up-to-date dramatisations list.
My favourites across each media remain the same as in my previous posts.
