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Sign up todaySherlock Holmes: The Carleton Hobbs Collection
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Learn moreA comprehensive collection of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories starring Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley - plus bonus documentary.
Legendary actor Carleton Hobbs played the great Baker Street detective for over 17 years between 1952 and 1969, alongside Norman Shelley as Holmes's friend and companion Dr Watson. Their superb incarnations of the crime-fighting duo were exceptionally popular and are now wonderfully nostalgic.
This unique collection contains the existing Sherlock Holmes dramas in chronological order of publication, each a faithful, standalone adaptation of the original tale. Of the 56 short stories in the canon, 51 are included here ('The Adventure of the Yellow Face', 'The Adventure of the Gloria Scott', 'The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger' and 'The Adventure of the Creeping Man' were never made, and 'The Adventure of the Three Students' is missing from the BBC archives). Also featured are dramatisations of the four novels: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear. Among the star casts are Grizelda Hervey, Humphrey Morton, Gudrun Ure, Sylvia Coleridge and Rolf Lefebvre.
Concluding our collection is a fascinating 40-minute programme, Chosen Companions: Sherlock Holmes, in which Richard Usborne, one-time assistant editor of The Strand Magazine, selects his favourite extracts from the books (read by Carleton Hobbs) to weave together the story of Sherlock Holmes' development.
NB: Due to the age and nature of some of the recordings, the sound quality may vary.
Credits
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle
Dramatised by Michael Hardwick and Felix Felton
Produced by Norman Wright, Val Gielgud, Martyn C Webster, Graham Gauld, Frederick Bradnum and Robin Midgley
With thanks to Keith Wickham.
First broadcast on BBC Light Programme/BBC Radio 2 12 May 1959 - 10 July 1969
Contents
A Study in Scarlet
The Sign of the Four
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- A Scandal in Bohemia
- The Red-Headed League
- A Case of Identity
- The Boscombe Valley Mystery
- The Five Orange Pips
- The Man with the Twisted Lip
- The Blue Carbuncle
- The Speckled Band
- The Engineer's Thumb
- The Noble Bachelor
- The Beryl Coronet
- The Copper Beeches
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
- Silver Blaze
- The Cardboard Box
- The Stockbroker's Clerk
- The Musgrave Ritual
- The Reigate Squires
- The Crooked Man
- The Resident Patient
- The Greek Interpreter
- The Naval Treaty
- The Final Problem
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
- The Empty House
- The Norwood Builder
- The Dancing Men
- The Solitary Cyclist
- The Priory School
- Black Peter
- Charles Augustus Milverton
- The Six Napoleons
- The Golden Pince-Nez
- The Missing Three-Quarter
- The Abbey Grange
- The Second Stain
His Last Bow
- Wisteria Lodge
- The Red Circle
- The Bruce-Partington Plans
- The Dying Detective
- The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
- The Devil's Foot
- His Last Bow
The Valley of Fear
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
- The Illustrious Client
- The Blanched Soldier
- The Mazarin Stone
- The Three Gables
- The Sussex Vampire
- The Three Garridebs
- The Problem of Thor Bridge
- The Lion's Mane
- Shoscombe Old Place
- The Retired Colourman
Chosen Companions: Sherlock Holmes
Presented by Richard Usborne
Reader: Carleton Hobbs
Produced by Richard Keen
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 August 1970
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh into a prosperous Irish family. He trained as a doctor, gaining his degree from Edinburgh University in 1881. He worked as a surgeon on a whaling boat and also as a medical officer on a steamer travelling between Liverpool and West Africa. He then settled in Portsmouth on the English south coast and divided his time between medicine and writing.
Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in A Study of Scarlet, published in 'Beeton's Christmas Annual' in 1887. Its success encouraged Conan Doyle to write more stories involving Holmes but, in 1893, Conan Doyle killed off Holmes, hoping to concentrate on more serious writing. A public outcry later made him resurrect Holmes. In addition, Conan Doyle wrote a number of other novels, including The Lost World and various non-fictional works. These included a pamphlet justifying Britain's involvement in the Boer War, for which he was knighted and histories of the Boer War and World War One, in which his son, brother and two of his nephews were killed. Conan Doyle also twice ran unsuccessfully for parliament. In later life he became very interested in spiritualism.
Conan Doyle died of a heart attack on 7 July 1930.