Piratetv Theater | Classic Radio Drama

Sherlock Holmes
The are some entertainment partnerships that were surely made in heaven and the duo Norman Shelley & Carleton Hobbs is no exception. Throughout the 50s and 60s they were THE Sherlock and Watson for BBC Radio having been brought together for the first time October 1952. Both were already established radio actors: Hobbs was a founding member of the BBC drama repertory company in 1939; the same year that Shelley created his famous Children's Hour role as Winnie-The-Pooh. But it's as the residents of 221B Baker Street that two will be immortalized; whom they portrayed for 17 years.

SYNOPSIS

listen: Sherlock Holmes - The Speckled Band

The Speckled Band was one of Doyle's favourite Sherlock Holmes stories. Indeed, he adapted it for stage and the stage version starred H A Saintsbury and Lyn Harding as Holmes and Roylott. Doyle uses images of snakes, pokers and abusive, bad-tempered stepfathers, but much is left to the imagination, and some scholars have suggested that there are some dark sexual undertones to this tale. Certainly the addition of elements such as gypsies, a cheetah and baboon add to a tense, gothic atmosphere. This is Holmes at his very best. We have a memorable villain, Dr Grimsby Roylott, whose terrible temper and abuse and murder of his step-daughter leaves no room for sympathy or pity. We have the vaguely threatening presence of gypsies and the real threat of exotic wild beasts. Roylott is truly ghastly, a larger than life pantomime villain who tries to intimidate Holmes with his physical strength and overbearing manner. We hope that he will come to a sticky end, and he does, right on cue. Whereas Holmes' actions in previous stories may have been questionable, the despatch of Roylott at the hands of his poisonous snake is an occasion for cheers

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EPISODES