Merrison and Williams

Gerald Lea February 20, 2011 at 7:34pm

For me this is the most perfect dramatisation of the stories. Clive Merrison & Michael Williams are playing real people not characters weighed down by gimmicks & decades of reinterpretation. Merrison is so perfect that when I read the books I hear his voice, likewise Williams who was able to breath life into Watson that no-one else had been able to.

Bert Coules did an amazing job adapting Conan Doyle’s stories. He never takes liberties or tries your patience. Sometimes he comes up with things that are better than the original. In one story Watson sees off a soon to be dead client on a story night. As he shuts the door a gust of wind howls up the stairs symbolising the tragedy to come. I was truly amazed to find out that this wasn’t a Doyle original.

Really impressive is the sound production. There’s a few occasions when Watson walks to the window to at something in the street below. Listening you can tell from that he’s crossed the room, is by the window etc

Inga September 20, 2010 at 6:57am

this will become a favourite

thank you

--- Inga

Gyongi Fekete October 8, 2009 at 4:10pm

As Larry Albert so succinctly states "When I discovered these two as Holmes and Watson I was transported. An intelligent Watson and a truly manic Holmes. I couldn't wait for each new set to reach the stores."

These two epitomize the characters of Holmes and Watson as far as radio goes. I am very happy that my father got me interested in these dramatizations when I was younger. I feel that anyone who has been exposed to these shows is exceedingly fortunate. Begrudgingly, I have to admit now that I was also secretly thankful, that he dragged me along to his Bootmaker Club meetings when I was a girl.
Thank you for these and all of the wonderful Holmesian things that surface here!
Regards

David Knight > Gyongi Fekete July 8, 2010 at 2:54pm

Hello - first post.

As a long time fan of Holmes and Watson, my personal view is that the Merrison/Williams combination is the absolute pinnacle of the numerous versions of Sherlock. That isn't to take away from a whole load of other actors or productions, but the BBC's beautiful productions, the exceptional performances from all involved, and the fact that they successfully dramatised every ACD Holmes story; I just don't think that the Merrison/Williams (not to mention Bert Coules) version has ever been bettered, on either radio, tv or big screen.

I've got a pretty nice Sherlock collection all in all (books, CDs, records, DVDs, games and general memorabilia), and the complete boxset of the BBC audios is unquestionably one of my favourite things!

Just my view

Thanks