Baker Street Dozen: Audio and Video News

Definitely! Although not yet confirmed by MGM, the studio that holds the rights to The Hound of the Baskervilles, the latest news from this year’s Studio Day event in Studio City, California, posted at George Reis’ DVD Drive-In site, indicates that MGM are currently in production on the long awaited DVD release of the 1959 Hammer Films version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. The DVD is said to be part of the MGM Vintage Classics series and is reportedly slated for a 2002 release date. It is also reported, and now personally confirmed by this site, that Christopher Lee is participating in the project. Christopher Lee recently stated to me that he has already recorded an audio commentary track to be featured on the release. Fans will recall that Christopher Lee featured in the film as Sir Henry Baskerville opposite Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes and Andre Morell as Dr. Watson. More on this when we can independently either confirm or deny the report. The Hammer Films version of The Hound of the Baskervilles holds the distinction of being the first Holmes film to be shot in colour. More on this as information becomes available...

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The answer again is quite possibly! Gavin Collinson of BBC Worldwide has recently indicated that the release of the episodes is not 100% certain, but through their subsidiary BBC Learning, they are slowly making some headway towards getting the surviving Cushing - Holmes episodes into release. An initial release, possibly late in 2001, would likely contain A Study in Scarlet and The Blue Carbuncle on one tape/DVD. If successful, 2002 could see both episodes of The Hound of the Baskervilles released on one tape/DVD, with The Sign of Four and The Boscombe Valley Mystery following on after that. No indication if any of them would be in the NTSC VHS or Region 1 DVD format. More on this as further information becomes available...

Bert Coules, head writer for the BBC’s complete audio canon featuring Clive Merrison and the late Michael Williams, has indicated in a series of postings to the Scarlet Street Forums that the BBC has continued the radio adventures of Holmes and Watson in a new series of specially commissioned pastiches. Clive Merrison reprises the role of Sherlock Holmes with Andrew Sachs, following in the footsteps of the late Michael Williams, as Watson. Sachs appeared previously in the BBC radio series as the King of Bohemia in A Scandal in Bohemia, although he is is likely best known to North American audiences for the character of inept bellhop Manuel in the John Cleese series Fawlty Towers. Commenting on the casting news, Bert Coules noted:

Episode titles are:

- The Peculiar Persecution of Mr John Vincent Harden - The Madness of Colonel Warburton
- The Singular Inheritance of Miss Gloria Wilson - The Star of the Adelphi
- The Saviour of Cripplegate Square

For complete comments by Bert Coules and others, or to discuss this topic, visit the Scarlet Street Forums

To hear Andrew Sachs speaking voice in Real Media format, click on a clip from The Jewish Journey at BBC - Radio 4 - Discover Archives

“Everyone connected with the shows is delighted by this news; Andrew Sachs is enormously experienced in audio drama and will bring a fine combination of strengths to the role, not least the same dry sense of wit which so marked Michael Williams' assumption of the part.”

Guest artists in the new series include Tom Baker, Eleanor Bron, Timothy West (as Colonel Warburton), Jane Asher, Toyah Wilcox, Struan Rodger, Sian Probert (as Inspector Athelney Jones) and Maggie Steed. Recording of the new programs took place from the 22nd to 31st of October, 2001. The series is expected to air on BBC Radio 4 in January and February of 2002