Into The Time Vortex - Interview with Nick Briggs of Doctor Who and Big Finish

Doctor Who - Synopsis For All - Consuming Fire

It's not the Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who team up that fans have wanted but Big Finish has given us one that is just as good. Based on the Virgin Book that came out in 1994 this audio see the 7th Doctor, Ace and Benny meeting Holmes and Watson.  Out now by Big Finish and available at their website.
http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/all-consuming-fire-1229

The Library of St. John the Beheaded contains the most dangerous books in all creation so when some of them are stolen who else should the Vatican call but Sherlock Holmes?

Immediately, one of the possible suspects seems more suspicious than others. He has no traceable background, refuses to give straight answers and hides behind a pseudonym. However, Holmes and his loyal friend Watson soon realise this suspect is also their greatest hope: war is brewing and an Old God is rising, to save humanity they need The Doctor as much as he needs them.

Based on the original 1994 New Adventures novel by Andy Lane.

Written By: Andy Lane, adapted by Guy Adams
Directed By: Scott Handcock

Cast
Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield), Nicholas Briggs (Sherlock Holmes), Richard Earl (Doctor John Watson), Hugh Fraser (Sherringford Holmes), Anthony May (Baron Maupertuis), Aaron Neil (Tir Ram), Samantha Béart (Mrs Prendersly/Azazoth), Michael Griffiths (Ambrose), Guy Adams (K'Tcar'ch).

Other parts played by the cast.

Synopsis For The Judgement of Sherlock Holmes Box Set

Big Finish is releasing another box set for their popular Sherlock Holmes series with the voice of the Daleks Nick Briggs taking the lead yet again as Sherlock Holmes.  The Judgment of Sherlock Holmes is a story if four parts and you can order it from the Big Finish website.
http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-judgement-of-sherlock-holmes-box-set-1116

Sherlock Holmes had many secrets. This is the greatest of them.

Our knowledge of the life and career of Mr Sherlock Holmes is necessarily partial and inexact. Riddled with lacunae and ambiguities, its parameters are defined chiefly by what his friend and colleague, Dr John Watson, saw fit to record. One era in particular – those enigmatic years in which, believed dead at the Reichenbach Falls, the Great Detective roved the world incognito – has been shrouded in obscurity and doubt, the particulars of that time too terrible and too strange to be set down in full.

At least, that is, until now…

Part One: Poppyland
It is October, 1921. Dr John Watson, now almost seventy, has accustomed himself to a life of retirement. He is surprised, then, to encounter his old friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes, rising out of the early evening mist like a wraith. There are things they have to discuss, he says, matters from the distant past. It is important, he says, that Watson hears at last a full account of what happened to Holmes during his years away from England when, believed by the world to be dead following his battle with Professor Moriarty, he travelled incognito overseas…

Part Two: At the Gates of Shambhala
1892. At the heart of Tibet, a world away from London, where a grieving Dr Watson is battling demons of his own, stands an ancient monastery, abandoned for generations but now the source of rumours of the most peculiar and terrible kind. For strangers have lately invaded this place and pressed it into service for their dark schemes. Those who dwell nearby have come to live in fear and sorrow. What good fortune, then, that a certain noted Norwegian explorer should happen to have found himself in the vicinity…

Part Three: The Man in the Moonlight
Mr Sherlock Holmes is the kind of man whom it is practically impossible to imagine ever having been a child, so fixed and set is his nature. Yet even he was once an infant, his childhood as fraught with peril as his adult life. That time, long past, still haunts him – one element most of all, the figure of a stranger, standing without and gazing upwards, his thin, pale face haloed by moonlight.

Part Four: The Tragedy of Pargetter Square
Here is where it ends: with a murderer in Pargetter Square, with the detective and a tyrant come face to face in Baker Street, with desperate ambition and wickedness incarnate, with an assassin’s bullet and with old friends working, unknowingly, as one.

Yet what is an ending if not a beginning by a different name?

Written By: Jonathan Barnes
Directed By: Ken Bentley

Cast
Nicholas Briggs (Sherlock Holmes/Sherrinford Holmes), Richard Earl (Dr Watson), John Banks (Inspector Lestrade, Colonel Sebastian Moran), Tim Bentinck (Mycroft Holmes), Gemma Whelan (Mary Watson), Jemma Churchill (Helena Eidelmann), Terrence Hardiman (Dr Esau Thorne), Nicholas Chambers (The Reverend Samuel Griffiths), Joannah Tincey (Miss Jessica Hendrick), Dai Tabuchi (Dorje), David Killick (Lord Colney, The Earl of Pettigree)

Ian McKellen is Mr. Holmes

Ian McKellen tweeted a photo of himself as Sherlock Holmes in a new movie called Mr. Holmes.  The movie sees a 93 year old Sherlock Holmes taking on a new case. Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) will direct this movie which is slated for 2015 release.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67935

Synopsis For Big Finish's The Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes Box Set

Big Finish continues its Sherlock Holmes line with a box set of 4 adventures.  Sherlock Holmes is played by Nick Briggs and Doctor Watson by Richard Earl.  You can order it now from the Big Finish website,
http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-ordeals-of-sherlock-holmes-box-set-918

Four decades. Four cases. One solution.
From the plains of Afghanistan to the alleyways of Victorian London, from the dark heart of the English countryside to the ruin of Europe after the Great War, join Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson in a quartet of astonishing new investigations which span their lifelong friendship – and beyond…

Written By: Jonathan Barnes
Directed By: Ken Bentley 

Cast
Nicholas Briggs (Sherlock Holmes), Richard Earl (Dr Watson), John Banks (Inspector Lestrade), Derek Carlyle (Wherry), Blake Ritson (Christopher Thrale), Michael Cochrane (Winchester Bartley-Gower), Eve Karpf (The Gracious Adelina/Mrs Chaunt Maclise/Mrs Hope), Amy Ewbank (Eliza Hinderclay/Judy), Ken Bones (Jim Hinderclay), Caroline Keiff (Tess Dorno), Tracey Childs (Mrs Edgar Curbishley), Marek Oravec (Griesser), Andrew Fettes (Tlitzlmann Blench)

Ian McKellen To Play An Old Sherlock Holmes In New Movie

Ian McKellen can now add Sherlock Holmes to the numerous roles that he has played in geekdom.  He will be playing an old Sherlock Holmes in the movie adaption of the novel A Slight Trick Of The Mind.   The announcement was made at this years Toronto Film Festival and you can read the press release below.

ICON/AI FILMS TO FINANCE AND CO-PRODUCE

 A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND, DIRECTED BY BILL CONDON

AND STARRING IAN MCKELLEN

Anne Carey of Archer Gray Productions to co-produce with Iain Canning

and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films

FilmNation to handle international sales 

TORONTO - Thursday 5 September 2013.  AI Film, the production arm of the Icon UK Group owned by Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, has announced it is financing and co-producing   A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND to be directed by Oscar®winner Bill Condon and starring Ian McKellen in the lead role.

Set to film next April in the UK, the film will be produced by Anne Carey, producer of Anton Corbijn’s The American, through her new venture Archer Gray Productions, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films, producers of the Oscar®-winning British feature The King’s Speech, with Aviv Giladi, CEO of Icon/AI Film, and Len Blavatnik exec producing.  Christine Langan, Head of BBC Films, is an exec producer on behalf of BBC Films which is also co-financing.

Based on a novel by Mitch Cullin, A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND, the screenplay is being adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher whose credits include The Duchess, Casanova and Stage Beauty.
In 1947, Sherlock Holmes, long retired, lives in a sleepy Sussex village with his housekeeper and her amateur-sleuthing son. But far from living out a peaceful retirement, he is haunted by an unsolved case from fifty years ago. He remembers only fragments: a confrontation with an angry husband, a secret bond with his beautiful but unstable wife.

With his legendary mental powers on the wane, and without his old sidekick Watson, Holmes is faced with the toughest case of his life – a case that might finally reveal to him the mysteries of the human heart.

Elementary Casts It's Mycroft Holmes

 

Rhys Ifans who played the Lizard in last years The Amazing Spider - Man will be playing Sherlock Holmes brother Mycroft in the second season of Elementary.  He will make his debut in the season opener when Sherlock and Joan take a trip to London where Mycroft will allow them to stay at his new home at 221B Baker Street.

Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon Issue 3 Review

Sherlock Holmes:

The Liverpool Demon #3

By Leah Moore and John Reppion

Art by Matt Triano

Holmes and Watson are investigating a murder of a museum curator.  He was murdered while open crates for his new exhibit and Holmes noticed that one of the crates has gone missing.   So they are off to the boat that the boxes have been delivered on a hunch by Holmes that the missing crate might still be there and was not delivered. 

While Holmes and Watson are doing that, Inspector Thornton has his hands filled with a puma that has escaped from the zoo.  It appears the puma found its way into the illegal dog fighting that is in the cellar of a building in the shadier parts of Liverpool and it appears to have killed everyone there man and dog.   How are these two separate incidents tied into The Spring Heeled Jack case they are working on?  Holmes has a theory and it involves a crooked medium and something that might have been overlooked.

The Liverpool Demon issue 3 was a total spin from the first two issues as it went in a direction I wasn’t expecting.  What I love from Leah Moore and John Reppion is how well they write for Sherlock Holmes as the capture the character really well.  I also like how they tell a story and with The Liverpool Demon I have been kept guessing what will happen next.  Even though my guesses have been wrong I do indeed love that as it tells the reader that the story is not predictable and it keeps you on your toes. 

Another thing I enjoyed in The Liverpool Demon was the fact that the art was better than issue two.  I do not care how well a story is in a comic book if the art sucks then the story sucks also because it really brings it down.  Issue 3 was a lot better than issue two and the art had a good feel to it and wasn’t to dark that you couldn’t see anything.

I have been enjoying this comic book limited series and seeing Sherlock Holmes return in comic book form has been pretty cool to see.  The Liverpool Demon has so far been a good story and fits right in with the classic stories by Conan Doyle for the most part.  I’m really looking forward to the next few issues and to see how this story ends.

Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon Issue 2 Review

Sherlock Holmes: Liverpool Demon  Issue 2

By Leah Moore and John Reppion

Art by Matt Triano

Holmes is now curious about the Demon that seems to be terrorizing Liverpool and decides to postpone going back home to London to see if he can figure out what is actually doing the terrorizing.  Holmes goes to the coroner and looks at the body to see if he can find anything out of the ordinary. Satisfied with that he heads to St. Mary’s Church the scene of the crime and does a look around where things appear pretty strange.  Holmes is pretty satisfied with what he saw in the church and seems to have come up with a couple of ideas.  Then there is the thing with the strange man called Drummond who spends his time with the dog fights and seems to have a peculiarly looking dog with big claws.

The second part of The Liverpool Demon takes delves deeper into the mystery that was started with the 1^st issue.  I really enjoyed the Holmes and Watson part of the issue as I felt that was the strongest part of the story.  The part with Drummond was well kind of strange and the whole dog fight scenes seemed to be excessively gory but I’m sure as the story unfolds in the next issues it will make more sense. 

I had a problem with the art with this issue. It seemed to be pretty sloppy in parts mainly with the part that involved Drummond.  Plus with the scenes in a dark area it made it look a bit worse than it should have.  Put the art on the book besides those scenes are pretty good.  Overall I have been enjoying the story so far and hope the rest of the mini-series turns out to be pretty good but so far so good for Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon.

Sherlock Holmes - The Liverpool Demon # 1 of 5 Review

Sherlock Holmes – The Liverpool Demon 1(of 5)
By Leigh Moore and John Reppion
Art by Matt Triano

Sherlock Holmes is back and this time he and Watson are in Liverpool finishing up on a case about identity theft and murder.  Upon finishing that up they are invited to dinner by one of Watson’s old colleagues Daniel Denby and his associates.  There he is listening intently to the group’s plans to build an above ground train system for Liverpool when all of a sudden the waiter faints.  Watson and Holmes rush to him and notice he fainted after looking out the window.  The duo run out of the restaurant and hurry to a mob scene where they appear to be looking at something scaling a building. It was something that resembles a demon which the locals call Spring Heeled Jack.

Leigh Moore and John Reppion return to the world of Sherlock Holmes after three years.  I loved their first foray The Trial of Sherlock Holmes which was really good and a must read for any Holmes enthusiast as it captured the way Doyle had written him.  With that said we now have their second helping and a good thing too as the last Sherlock Holmes Dynamite did, Year One, was god awful.

Issue one starts off pretty fast with the first case being completed at the beginning.  The story is set up really well and I look forward to seeing where it all goes in the next four issues. I like the slow pace it takes to get things in motion.  Similar to how Doyle would do it for his short stories.  The demon aspect is intriguing as I’m not a big fan of that type of stuff in Sherlock Holmes but so far I am enjoying the prospect of it.  So with an enjoyable first issue and the table is set for the next issue The Liverpool Demon should be picked up by Sherlock Holmes fans as Moore and Reppion sure know how to write for the detective and his trusted ally.  Looking forward to seeing where this story will go with the second issue next month.

ELEMENTARY Reviewed by @RenZelen

ELEMENTARY
Reviewed by Ren Zelen

“Elementary, my dear Watson!” are words Conan Doyle never wrote, and his character, Sherlock Holmes, never uttered. This makes it ideally appropriate for them to be associated with the title of the latest Sherlock Holmes adaptation from US television network CBS. The words were actually spoken by the movie version of Sherlock popularized by Basil Rathbone in the 1940s whose screen adventures were also, only tenuously connected to the Conan Doyle stories. These movies are in fact, more obviously the forerunner to this TV Show. It may have been imagined that these movies would be more familiar to an American audience and that they would find less pleasure in the sport of spotting references to the original stories.

New Elementary Promo

Sherlock Returns Tonight In USA! Watch The PBS Trailer!!!

Sherlock Returns to American television sets today.  Tune in to your local PBS station at 9PM to regal in the latest adventures of Holmes and Watson.  This time we are treated to The Lady, The Hound and The Fall.

CBS "Elementary" Has It's Sherlock Holmes

CBS has cast it's Sherlock Holmes for it's Sherlock rip off Elementary.  It is Jonny Lee Miller. The Former Eli Stone star has been tapped to play Sherlock Holmes in CBS modern take of the character that takes place in modern times and takes place in NYC.  You can read about it at this link.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/02/jonny-lee-miller-to-play-sherlock-holmes-in-cbs-pilot-elementary/

Bummer!!!! Sherlock Series 2 Delayed Until 2012

For fans of the really amazing modern day take of Sherlock Holmes will now have to wait till 2012 to see the resolution of series one's cliffhanger.  Sherlock series two was suppose to air during the fall but it appears to not be done filming in time to air this fall.  My guess the delay is due to Martin Freeman being busy filming the Hobbit.  Like I said just a guess.

source cultfix.com

Say Hello To Sherlock's Irene Adler

Former Robin Hood and season 10 of Spooks star Lara Pulver will be playing Irene Adler in Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss second series of Sherlock.  For those that don't know Irene Adler is one of the few that have outwitted Sherlock Holmes.  You can read the tale in A Scandal in Bohemia or if you prefer you can watch the Jeremy Brett version on DVD.

Sherlock Series Two Episode Titles Revealed

I found this tidbit over at Den of Geek.  The article goes on to say that Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss says the fans should expect to see these adventures: A Scandal in Belgravia, The Hounds of the Baskerville and The Reichenbach Fall.  True Holmes fans might have an inkling of what might happen in that last title.  I can't wait to see these when they air later in the year.

Full article here.  http://www.denofgeek.com/television/890518/sherlock_series_2_stories_revealed.html

Edward Hardwicke 1932 - 2011

Fans of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series that ran in the 80's and 90's will be sadden to learn of the passing of Edward Hardwicke who played the 2nd Doctor Watson.   Edward Hardwicke took over the role of Watson form David Burke.   Edward Hardwicke played Doctor Watson along Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes for 8 years (1986 - 1994) and in my opinion Edward Hardwicke was the best Doctor Watson.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0362570/