June 5, 2006
It will come as no surprise that Gielgud and Richardson, as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, are as perfect a pairing as are the fictional detective team. They are so comfortable together, have a genuine fondness for each other and share an amused tolerance of one another's foibles. A special gift is Orson Welles as the infamous Professor Moriarty. The stories (adapted for radio by John Kier Cross) are nicely varied, from lost love letters and blackmail to truly bizarre murders, all solved with Holmes's sharp observations and ingenious deductions—sometimes off the wall, but always delightful. The 12 radio shows were originally aired by the BBC in 1954 (and were broadcast in the U.S. on NBC in 1955 along with four additional half-hour episodes).