Tom Baker MBE get knighted as Sir Sherlock Holmes in a new audio series
Many regard Tom Baker as one of the most iconic Doctor Who stars of all. But the Doctor is not his only role as a heroic genius during his long career. He’s now returning to one of the most famous: Sherlock Holmes. Fresh from Doctor Who, Baker portrayed Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective in the BBC mini-series The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1982. He later returned to the role in the 1985 stage play The Mark of Moriarty. Baker himself was never particularly content with either performance (particularly Moriarty, where one plot twist rested on the audience not recognizing Baker’s unique voice.) But his Sherlock Holmes lives again on audio in a new series of plays from AUK Studios: Sir Sherlock.
First story The Red Letter Day takes place in the 1920s, as Holmes receives a knighthood for his services to Great Britain. The world has moved on, and so has Holmes. But on his return visit to London the retired detective finds death and danger still await around every street corner. He and his old friend Dr. Watson find a new companion in Lestrade’s daughter Emily, and, of course, an apparently unsolvable mystery.
The game’s afoot! Even if it has to lean a little more heavily on its cane, these days.
Tom Baker’s old Doctor Who co-star John Leeson, who played K-9 between 1977 and 2010, joins him on the adventure. Meanwhile, Katy Ashworth is Emily. The Red Letter Day is an original story written by Gary Hopkins, who previously adapted four of Conan Doyle’s stories for the legendary Granada series starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes.
The story is intended as just the first in the Sir Sherlock series. You can support AUK’s releases through their Kickstarter page.
Sir Sherlock: The Red Letter Day
It is 1924 and the former consulting detective finally accepts a knighthood.
Drawn back to London, away from a quiet life on the Sussex Downs, he is joined by his friend Doctor John Watson when a mysterious red letter leads them back into a murder investigation.
What is the secret of Cleopatra’s needle? Who is the second detective, seemingly always one step ahead of him?
Between the ancient past and an uncertain future, are Holmes and Watson still the right men to stop a killer in his tracks?
