Sherlockian Audio Reviews - 'Watson: The Final Problem'

 

Writer(s):   Bert Coules & Tim Marriott

Narrator/Holmes & Watson:   Tim Marriott

Summary: A new Sherlockian play by Bert Coules, Head Writer on the BBC Radio 4 complete Canon starring Clive Merrison and the follow-up 'The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes', written in conjunction with its star, Tim Marriott (best known for 'The Brittas Empire'). A one-man Watson-focused piece, focusing on Reichenbach and what came before.

The original intention was to perform 'Watson: The Final Problem' on stage in Autumn 2020 and on tour in 2021, but in the current circumstances instead a radio-style recording was made in isolation to help develop the project and keep the creatives busy in lockdown. In true Sherlock Homes style, ingeniously improvising with home equipment, Tim Marriott recorded the script in a makeshift home studio made with a microphone and laptop under a duvet held up by a kitchen chair; Clive Whitburn created the score in his garden shed; and Bert Coules drew on all his past BBC experience to stitch the piece together using only the electronic equivalent of a razor blade, splicing tape, and a collection of improvised sound effects. The full audio recording is at: www.smokescreenprods.com for free, but with donations requested.   [The play was due to play a one night date at Grove Theatre, Eastbourne on 12th December 2020, but this was also cancelled]

 

Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this, with a tour-de-force performance by Marriott, and an excellent script by Coules and its star. I recognised several parts from Coules' previous 1992 'The Final Problem' adaptation  (Michael Williams' favourite), but that only added to my enjoyment. It also effectively looked at how the events of Reichenbach affected the man left behind. Excellent sound effects and music also, and its being recorded in lockdown was not in evidence at all. In different times, I wouldn't have been able to stay away from the planned Eastbourne date  (particularly as it would have fitted in perfectly with a planned 'Sherlockian Sojourn').

 

Rating:    (5/5) 

 

Link to audio:  'Watson: The Final Problem'

Sherlockian Audio Reviews - Introduction

Although my interest in Sherlock Holmes was initiated by television ('The Baker Street Boys'), a play ('SH & The Adventure of the Sumatran Devil' by a pre-HDM Philip Pullman), and a film ('The Great Mouse Detective'), which led to my purchasing my first Canon, my first experience of the majority of the stories was via the Radio 4 dramatisations starring Clive Merrison and Michael Williams.  (click here for the official website)

 

 

I have them all on cassette and as MP3s, but have also just started to collect them on CD. As lockdown continues and I listen to other SH audiobooks as escapism, I intend to post reviews as I listen.

2020 Vision.

2020 is a year almost everyone wishes to forget, but in line with the practice that I encourage in the learners that I work with, it is always useful to reflect back on events to learn for the future. In the first post on this blog, I described intending to use this blog to “offload furniture from my brain-attic, ie. to get rid of thoughts that are going round and round in my head with no place to express them”. I am therefore putting these thoughts down on the first day of 2021, more for my own benefit, than for anyone reading them. It may also be interesting for me to revisit them in the future.

When I gathered up my files and laptop and left the office at lunchtime on a Wednesday in mid-March 2020, I expected to be working from home for three months, or six months at the outside. However, I will be starting 2021 still in my back bedroom, with all contact with my colleagues and learners being via screens or phone. The novelty of not having to commute to South Wimbledon and being able to attend meetings seemingly in the TARDIS console room, has well and truly worn off. Living with two people who are at heightened risk, I can count the number of times that I have left my home (including the garden) since mid-March on my fingers and toes, and even then I have not ventured outside Greater London. I miss live theatre (seeing at least one stage production per week in normal times), attending signing events, and meeting with others in person. However, my feelings in relation to this are not anger or frustration, only a wistful remembrance of times when I didn't know that I had it so good. I regret nothing (save not going to a signing event in March 2020 just prior to lockdown), as I know that I have done what is best for those that I love.

But although there have been many lows this year, including the deaths of several people who have impacted positively on my life in previous years, I found the completion of my 2020 Awards, helped me identify the positives also. My favourite day of last year was the quadriennial calendar anomoly, 29^th February, which featured my favourite live events for both 'Doctor Who' and 'Sherlock Holmes'. But what was it that made that day so special ? Was it meeting Thirteenth Doctor companion, Tosin Cole ? Or getting to solve a case alongside Cumberbatch's Sherlock ? No, it was that I attended both events with friends – the last time we were together in person. Memories of that day, and regular telephone and online contact with friends have kept me going through some of the more difficult times, along with the support of family. Online plays (more screens !!) have also helped with the theatre itch. I have also taken the opportunity to plan around ten future 'Sherlockian Sojourns' that I will undertake when the vaccine has done its work.

So I enter 2021 in a positive frame of mind, hopeful of an eventual return to something approaching 'normality', but confident that I have the support to cope with lockdown in the meantime. Things may get worse before they get better, but I've proved to myself that I can deal with whatever is thrown at me. Hopefully 2021 will indeed be a 'Happy New Year'.

2020 Awards: 'Sherlock Holmes'

Films/TV

3) 'Scooby Doo & Guess Who: Elementary, My Dear Shaggy'   (Warner Bros) 

 

[Scooby and the gang link up with a man who claims to be the real Sherlock Holmes in modern-day England]

2) 'The Inbestigators'  (Netflix/Film Victoria)

[An Australian children's mockumentary comedy television series in which four fifth grade kids solve crimes around school or the neighbourhood, with the very Sherlockian Maudie doing much of the 'heavy lifting'].

1) 'Enola Holmes'  (Netflix/Warner Bros)

 

[A very enjoyable adaptation of the first of Nancy Springer's books about Holmes' younger sister. Although I didn't agree with the characterisation of either Holmes brother (click here for my review), I still recommend this]

Live Events   (Pre March 2020)

5) 'Peter Cushing: In His Own Words' (Cinema Museum, Kennington)

4) 'The Missing Company of Sherlock Holmes' (Greenwich Theatre)

3) 'The Sign of Four' (Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham)

2) 'Sherlock Holmes & The Warlock of Whitechapel' (Zinc Arts Centre, Ongar)

1) 'Sherlock: The Game Is Now' (W1 Shopping Centre. Shepherds Bush)

 

 

 Honourable Mention: 'Andrew Lycett: Conan Doyle's Wide World' - Stanfords, Covent Garden.

Online Events  (Post March 2020)

Plays

10) 'The Baker Street Ladies' (Slade Wolfe Enterprises - Zoom)

9) 'Conan Doyle's Edwardian Gothic (Don't Go Into The Cellar – Live Stream via Facebook Live)

8) 'The Extraordinary Escapades of Professor Challenger' (Don't Go Into The Cellar – Live Stream via Facebook Live)

7) 'Holmes for Christmas' (Don't Go Into The Cellar – Live Stream via Facebook Live)

6) 'The Mazarin Malediction' (Don't Go Into The Cellar – Live Stream via Facebook Live)

5) 'Strictly Sherlock' (Don't Go Into The Cellar – Live Stream via Facebook Live)

4) 'The Sign of Four' (Blackeyed Theatre Company – YouTube) [The production I enjoyed in 2018]

3) 'Re. Sherlock Holmes' (Don't Go Into The Cellar – Live Stream via Facebook Live)

2) 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' (09 Lives Theatre Company – Download) [An audio version of the production I saw in 2019 in a Victorian graveyard at night]

1) 'Watson: The Final Problem' (Smokescreen Productions – Download) [A new Sherlockian play by Merrison 'showrunner' Bert Coules]

 

Talks

7) 'The Extraordinary Sherlock Holmes' (Nick Dobson, Barbican Library - Zoom)

6) 'Advising Government: Fiction and Fact in United Kingdom History ' (Dr. Andrew Blick, Sherlock Holmes Society of London – Zoom)

5) 'A Case of Identity: How Cinema Helped Create Sherlock Holmes' (Will Bird, Brent Culture Service - Zoom)

4) 'Left Coast Sherlockian Symposium' (LCSS - Zoom)

3) 'British Beginnings' (Nick Utechin, Red Circle of Washington DC – Zoom)

2) 'Three Minute Problems' (Sherlock Holmes Society of London – Zoom)

1) 'A Scintillation of Scions At Home' (Watson's Tin Box of Ellicott City, MD - Zoom)

 

2020 Awards: 'Doctor Who'

 TV Episodes

5) 'Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror'

4) 'Ascension of the Cybermen'

3) 'Can You Hear Me ?'

2) 'Spyfall – Part 2'

1) 'Fugitive of the Judoon'

 

['Revolution of the Daleks' will be part of 2021's awards]

Big Finish Boxsets/Specials

5) 'The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 3'

4) 'Shadow of the Sun'

3) 'The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 4'

2) 'Out of Time'

1) 'The Sixth Doctor and Peri – Volume 1'      [No surprises here ;)]

 

Big Finish Monthly Range

5) 'The Psychic Circus'

4) 'Thin Time/Madquake'

3) 'Time Apart'

2) 'Plight of the Pimpernel'

1) 'Scorched Earth'

 

Live Events

7) 'Sophie Aldred – 'At Childhood's End Signing'' (Forbidden Planet, London)

6) 'February Signing Spectacular' (Fantom Films - Chiswick)

5) 'January Signing Spectacular' (Fantom Films - Chiswick)

4) 'London Film Fair' (Showmasters – Russell Square)

3) 'September Signing Spectacular' (Fantom Films - Chiswick)     [A lockdown signing session with a Sixth Doctor Theatre companion]

2) 'BFI 'Talons of Weng-Chiang' Screening' (National Film Theatre, South Bank)

1) 'London Film and Comic Con Spring' (Kensington Olympia)   [Just squeezed in prior to lockdown]

 

 

Online Events

3) 'Time Space Visualiser IV' (Fantom Films - YouTube)

2) 'Time Space Visualiser' (Fantom Films - YouTube)

1) 'DW: Worlds Collide – Escape Room' (Escape Hunt - Zoom)

 

Merchandise

5) 'Lytton #1' comic

4) 'Friends and Foes of the Thirteenth Doctor' B&M Action Figure Set

3) 'The Daleks' DWM Bookazine

2) 'Doctor Who: Adventures in Lockdown' Book

1) 'Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 14' Blu-Ray Boxset

 

2020 Awards: Theatre

My favourite theatre shows seen both in person (up to mid-March 2020) and then online: 

Live

10) 'The Navy Lark' (Epsom Playhouse)

9) 'Come From Away' (Phoenix Theatre)

8) 'The Cat & The Canary' (Richmond Theatre)

7) '& Juliet' (Shaftesbury Theatre)

6) 'Ben Hart: Wonder' (Wiltons Music Hall)

5) '9 to 5 – The Musical' (Savoy Theatre)

4) 'Eric & Ern' (Duke of York Theatre) [with musical guest Ruthie Henshall]

3) 'Soapdish – Act 1' (Turbine Theatre) [A work-in-progress concert version of a new Stiles & Drewe Musical based on the film]

2) 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again, Again' (Bristol Slapstick Festival – Theatre Royal, Bristol)

1) 'Magic Goes Wrong' (Vaudeville Theatre)

 

 

 

Online

10) '42nd Street' ('The Shows Must Go On' - YouTube)

9) 'The Wiz LIVE' ('The Shows Must Go On' - YouTube)

8) 'Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds' ('The Shows Must Go On' - YouTube)

7) 'This House' (NT Live - YouTube)

6) 'Small Island' (NT Live - YouTube)

5) 'By Jeeves' ('The Shows Must Go On' - YouTube)

4) 'The Madness of George III' (NT Live - YouTube)

3) 'Frankenstein' (NT Live - YouTube)

2) 'One Man, Two Guvnors' (NT Live - YouTube)     [I enjoyed this more online than when I saw it live]

1) 'Mischief Movie Night In: Who-Bunn-It?'  (Livestream: 29/12/20)   [A very late winner - an hour long live improvised movie by Mischief Theatre Company ('...Goes Wrong' plays) based on audience suggestions, making up for the cancellation of the Edinburgh Fringe earlier in the year]
 

(Honourable Mentions: 'Dick Whittington'/'Aladdin' - The Roses Theatre Tewkesbury [You Tube]; 'Dick Whittington' - National Theatre [YouTube])

 

2020 Awards: Introduction

In line with the very different year that 2020 has been, my annual awards will also be very different this year. Although I continued seeing shows and going to events at my usual rate through January and February, the lockdown from mid-March 2020 meant that at a stroke sixteen live events (theatre, music, conventions/signings)  that I was booked for were either cancelled, or posponed several times (before in many cases being cancelled entirely). I have also managed only one 'Sherlockian Sojourn' which was only a few miles from home [but have loads planned for the next few years], and one signing event since March.   [Not going to Liverpool Comic Con in early March to meet Frank Welker, voice of Toby and Felicia in 'The Great Mouse Detective', on financial grounds, remains my main regret, as with all the cancelled events I could have afforded to do so several times over]

However, I have attended a large number of online events, including several Sherlockian meetings/conferences in the United States that would previously have been beyond my reach. 'National Theatre Live' and 'The Shows Must Go On' on YouTube have allowed me to revisit some favourite live performances, as well as allowing me to see productions that I previously missed. I have also seen a variety of online Sherlockian performances, including a large number featuring the amazing Jonathan Goodwin as Holmes.

My awards will continue to focus on 'Doctor Who', 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'Theatre', but will be broken down into live and online categories, displaying some of the highlights of a difficult year.