> Skip to content
Play sample
  • Published: 10 August 2017
  • ISBN: 9781785299995
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 8 hr 45 min
  • Narrators: Clive Merrison, Michael Williams

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes




Clive Merrison and Michael Williams star as Holmes and Watson in this collection of twelve stories from the fully dramatised BBC Radio 4 canon, based on Arthur Conan Doyle's original short stories.

Clive Merrison and Michael Williams star as Holmes and Watson in this collection of stories from the unique fully dramatised BBC Radio 4 canon, based on Arthur Conan Doyle's original short stories.

The twelve dramatisations are A Scandal in Bohemia; The Red-Headed League; A Case of Identity; The Boscombe Valley Mystery; The Five Orange Pips; The Man with the Twisted Lip; The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle; The Adventure of the Speckled Band; The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb; The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor; The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet; The Adventure of the Copper Beeches.

In these twelve stories, Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson investigate a compromising photograph, a murder case with Australian connections, a disreputable opium den, a Christmas goose, a ruined ancestral estate, a disastrous wedding day, a house with frightening secrets, and several other baffling circumstances.

Among the large supporting cast are Sarah Badel, Andrew Sachs, James Grout, James Wilby, Sam West, Stephen Tompkinson and Imogen Stubbs.

  • Published: 10 August 2017
  • ISBN: 9781785299995
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 8 hr 45 min
  • Narrators: Clive Merrison, Michael Williams

Other books in the series

About the author

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and began to write stories while he was a student.Over his life he produced more than thirty books, 150 short stories, poems, plays and essays across a wide range of genres. His most famous creation is the detective Sherlock Holmes, who he introduced in his first novel A Study in Scarlet (1887). This was followed in 1889 by an historical novel, Micah Clarke. In 1893 Conan Doyle published 'The Final Problem' in which he killed off his famous detective so that he could turn his attention more towards historical fiction. However Holmes was so popular that Conan Doyle eventually relented and published The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901. The events of the The Hound of the Baskervilles are set before those of 'The Final Problem' but in 1903 new Sherlock Holmes stories began to appear that revealed that the detective had not died after all. He was finally retired in 1927. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died on 7 July 1930.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh into a prosperous Irish family. He trained as a doctor, gaining his degree from Edinburgh University in 1881. He worked as a surgeon on a whaling boat and also as a medical officer on a steamer travelling between Liverpool and West Africa. He then settled in Portsmouth on the English south coast and divided his time between medicine and writing.

Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in A Study of Scarlet, published in 'Beeton's Christmas Annual' in 1887. Its success encouraged Conan Doyle to write more stories involving Holmes but, in 1893, Conan Doyle killed off Holmes, hoping to concentrate on more serious writing. A public outcry later made him resurrect Holmes. In addition, Conan Doyle wrote a number of other novels, including The Lost World and various non-fictional works. These included a pamphlet justifying Britain's involvement in the Boer War, for which he was knighted and histories of the Boer War and World War One, in which his son, brother and two of his nephews were killed. Conan Doyle also twice ran unsuccessfully for parliament. In later life he became very interested in spiritualism.

Conan Doyle died of a heart attack on 7 July 1930.

Also by Arthur Conan Doyle

See all