The Rivals.
I remember hearing about this series when it was announced but the BBC didn't give much info at the time.
It will be interesting to see how it rivals the old TV show The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (couldn't resist adding that!)
I'm making this discussion before the series has actually started as I have time on my hands today.
It starts on Wednesday 19 October 2011 (tomorrow as I type) on BBC Radio 4 in the 11:30 am slot.
There are 4 episodes in total. It looks like they will be broadcast weekly in the same slot.
I will add the shows to a folder on my 4 Shared account once they have aired.
Here's the link to the folder.
BBC descriptions, first for the series followed by episodes 1 and 2 which is as far as the schedule goes at the moment.
The Rivals - Inspector Lestrade, made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories, introduces tales of Holmes's rivals.
Episode 1/4 - The Murders in the Rue Morgue
By Edgar Allan Poe
Dramatised by Chris Harrald
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
Inspector Lestrade was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Now he has a chance to get his own back, with tales of Holmes' rivals.
He begins with the famous case of the Murders In The Rue Morgue, and the eccentric talents of Auguste Dupin.
Lestrade . . . . . James Fleet
Dupin . . . . . Andrew Scott
Lucy . . . . . Alex Tregear
Granjean . . . . . Sean Baker
Duborg . . . . . Brian Bowles
Mme Duborg . . . . . Jane Whittenshaw
The Sailor . . . . . Stuart McLoughlin
Episode 2/4 The Problem of Cell 13
By Jacques Futrelle
Dramatised by Chris Harrald
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
Arthur Conan Doyle's Inspector Lestrade introduces the story of Professor SFX Van Dusen,
who thinks his way out of a locked prison cell.
Lestrade . . . . . James Fleet
Van Dusen . . . . . Paul Rhys
Lucy . . . . . Alex Tregear
Fielding . . . . . Sean Baker
Merriman . . . . . Stuart McLoughlin
Hatch . . . . . Alun Raglan
O'Connor . . . . . Simon Bubb
Replies
Many thanks for these!
A quick post to say I have uploaded this morning's final episode of The Rivals, the Loveday Brooke story, to the same 4Shared folder that includes the earlier episodes of the series.
What a great series! Thanks again for your trouble Jake!!
David
Yes, indeed! Many thanks, Jake.
Roger
Have really been enjoying these. Thanks again, Jake.
I thought I'd add some links to another folder on my 4Shared account which has a play featuring Loveday Brooke. It probably stretches to the limit what can be related to Holmes and allowed here. But I think these Rivals shows stretches it to the limit anyway.
I remember now where I'd heard of Loveday Brooke. One of her stories was used in a 4 play series on Radio 4's Afternoon Play weekly in 2005. The series is titled 'The Lady Detectives'.
The Lady Detectives 4Shared folder
The Lady Detectives
Four full-cast dramatisations with a female perspective.
BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
3, 10, 17 and 24 January 2005
Directed by Patrick Rayner.
1/4 The Redhill Sisterhood by Catherine Louisa Pirkis
2/4 Mr Bovey's Unexpected Will by L T Meade and Robert Eustace
3/4 The Golden Slipper by Anna Katherine Green
4/4 The Law and the Lady by Wilkie CollinsI have just uploaded the 3rd episode - Murder By Proxy - to the 4 Shared folder.
4Shared folder - The Rivals BBCR4 2011
The info txt file is finished now that the last episode's details are on the schedule. I'll copy them into here as well:
Episode 4/4 The Mystery of Redstone Manor
By Chris Harrald, based on the character by Catherine Louisa Pirkis.
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
Inspector Lestrade was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Now he has a chance to get his own back, with tales of Holmes' rivals.
He concludes with a nail-biting adventure that features the uncompromising Loveday Brooke.
Lestrade . . . . . James Fleet
Loveday . . . . . Honeysuckle Weeks
Lucy . . . . . Alex Tregear
Winter . . . . . Brian Bowles
Simkins . . . . . Stuart McLoughlin
Alex . . . . . Daniel Rabin
I've heard of the character but have never read any of the Loveday Brooke stories. I found a website where one can read The Experiences Of Mrs Loveday Brooke. Using a html to pdf converter I have turned the website into a pdf and I have uploaded it to the 4 Shared folder as well as pdfs of the other stories.
The Loveday Brooke story featured in The Rivals is the only original story of the series I believe with the story by Chris Harrald simply using the character..
The Loveday Brooke pdf has some great illustrations as well. The web site you can read it from is printed on each page of the pdf.
Thanks again, Jake. As Dr Watson said to Sherlock Holmes, you are a benefactor of the race! (Er, that's the human race, of course, not the Wessex Plate or the Grand National...)
Roger
Thanks Roger.
It's great to see these stories being dramatised and I hope there will be more series. I just don't get the point of Lestrade being in them though.
When I first came across the TV show The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes I wondered if the Holmes connection was simply a selling point. The more I looked though I got the impression it was quite a phenomenon and shows how influential Holmes was at the time and that actually the whole Rivals thing was quite a good idea and name for a series when it was made (early 1970s I think?).
A radio version of the TV show would of been just fine by me.
I remember that TV series to have been very plodding and boring although it did capture the ambiance of the period reasonably well. I don't believe that Conan Doyle had any real rivals until Christie appeared. Poe, Futrelle and the others relied on their masterful use of the thesaurus to inject elements of confusion into what were usually very absurd plots that hinged entirely on totally implausable events. A blood soaked ape rips apart an apartment but leaves only the minutest of evidence of its presence. A sewer rat miraculously doesn't gnaw at the piece of linen tied to its tail and not only accepts it but sees that it gets delivered into daylight. I suppose my ability to suspend disbelief is at a low ebb.
Thanks for sharing. These radio productions have been very good.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next