Sherlock Holmes Broadcasts

Introduction

The adventures of Sherlock Holmes have been broadcast on the radio and television since the 1930s.

All of the original stories have been broadcast, some more than others, and only once has the complete set of all sixty stories been produced with the same actors playing Holmes and Watson.

Amongst all these broadcasts, many adapters have worked the original stories into broadcast versions, with varying degrees of success. These writers have also created new stories from the otherwise undocumented cases mentioned in the original stories, and written entirely new adventures.

In addition to these dramas, there have been readings of the stories, and documentaries about Holmes and Watson.

Many writers have written books and produced websites attempting to chronicle these broadcasts with details of the broadcast station and who played Holmes and Watson, plus details about other cast members, etc.

Earliest broadcasts

The earliest radio broadcasts were in the USA (1930) and UK (1938) and the earliest television broadcasts also in the USA (1937) and UK (1951).

Recordings of these early broadcasts do not exist. The first available recordings of USA radio broadcasts are in 1933 (more regularly from 1945 onwards) and in the UK from 1945 onwards. Recordings of television broadcasts are available for some USA broadcasts and for some UK broadcasts.

Sources of information

Books

Gordon E Kelley, Sherlock Holmes Sound and Screen Guide, 1994

Ronald Burt De Waal, The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, 1974

Websites

Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs

Universal Sherlock Holmes, previously available at the University of Minnesota Libraries , now only available via the Internet Archive.

VV341, now only available via the Internet Archive.

New Comprehensive Source of Information

A new source of information is in development.

Using the sources of information listed above (both books and websites) an app for Apple devices is being developed by the author to list all known radio and television broadcasts from the USA and UK.