The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes

Written and presented by Michael Hardwick
Directed by Peter King

First broadcast: Sun 22nd Jun 1980
BBC Radio 4




  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . . . . . . . . . . . Frank Finlay
    Sherlock Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . Denys Hawthorne
    Dr Watson . . . . . . . . . . . Gordon Reid
    Louise Conan Doyle . . . . . . . . . . . Eve Karpf
    Dr Joseph Bell . . . . . . . . . . . John Bott
    Ceorge Edalji . . . . . . . . . . . Babar Bhatti
    Admiral Domville . . . . . . . . . . . Alexander John

    Sherlock Holmes dies at Reichenbach Falls - the news sent the British nation into mourning. City gents went about wearing black arm bands. A campaign was launched to bring the famous detective back. How could this fictitious character move a staid, unemotional race to such passion? And what sort of man created him?

    This programme, to mark the 50th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's death, attempts to answer these questions.



  • Frank had several other associations with Sherlock Holmes. He played Inspector Lestrade twice, first in A Study in Terror (1965) with John Neville as Sherlock Holmes and then in Murder by Decree (1979) with Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes.

    He also played Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Other Side (1992) an episode of the TV series Encounters, with Richard E. Grant as Sherlock Holmes.

    In 1994, he played Professor Coram in The Golden Pince-Nez an episode of the TV series Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.