Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson

Posted by Riklaa on July 9, 2008 at 12:11pm

Gielgud and Richardson 1954 - 1955 First Show: UK - 05 Oct, 1954 Last Show: UK - 21 Dec, 1954 US - Jan 02, 1955 US - Jun 05, 1955 Number Shows: UK - 12 Audition Show: none US - 22 Series Description: The character of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great detective has been on radio from 1930 to recent times. In the United States, long-running series presented the cases of Sherlock Holmes. In Great Britan, the listening public first heard single adventures, then short series from 6 to 12 shows over the years. In the US, Holmes first appeared on Oct. 20, 1930 in THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, a series that ran until Dec. 24, 1936. During that time, THE LUX RADIO THEATER brought the Gillette/Doyle Sherlock Holmes play to the air on Nov. 18, 1935. Orsen Welles brought the play to the air again in his MERCURY THEATER OF THE AIR on Sept. 25, 1938. The longest-running US series started on Oct. 2, 1939 and ran until June 14, 1950. It started out with the most well-remembered radio Holmes, Basil Rathbone, assisted by Nigel Bruce as Watson. Mr. Rathbone left the series at the end of the 1945-46 season. The remaining years of the series saw numerous role changes and even a network change. When the series left the air at end of the 1949-50 season, it marked the end of US production of radio Sherlock Holmes shows. On the other side of the Atlantic, things were much different. Until the 1954 12-show series, there were only 3 Sherlock Holmes shows targeted for an adult audience. These were "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" (3 Jul, 1943), "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" (17 May, 1945) and an adaptation of the William Gillette / Conan Doyle play (3 Jan, 1953). There were a number of Holmes adventures, targeted for a children's audience, with Carleton Hobbs as Holmes and Norman Shelley as Watson. The earliest of these aired on 15 Oct, 1952. The 12-show Gielgud/Richardson series in 1954 marked a turning point. After this series, numerous short series and single shows were produced for the British Broadcasting Corporation. The 1954 series was produced in London by Harry Alan Towers, who also produced THE LIVES OF HARRY LIME (aka: THE THIRD MAN) and THE BLACK MUSEUM. Holmes was played by Sir John Gielgud and Watson was by Sir Ralph Richardson. The series was an excellent adaptation of stories from the Sherlock Holmes canon. The performances are solid and enjoyable. The shows were adapted for radio by John Kier Cross and directed by either Val Gielgud or Martyn C. Webster. Some members of the cast are noted in the list below. Orsen Welles, who played Holmes in the MERCURY THEATER Holmes play, appeared as Professor Moriarty the in "The Final Problem". Twelve shows were aired by the BBC from 5 Oct, 1954 through 21 Dec, 1954. The series aired in the US on Jan 2, 1955. The US series consisted of 22 shows, of which the last 6 were re-broadcasts of earlier shows.

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Tags: Mystery, whodunit
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