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The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh where he qualified as a doctor, but it was his writing which brought him fame, with the creation of Sherlock Holmes, the first scientific detective. He was also a convert to spiritualism and a social reformer who used his investigative skills to prove the innocence of individuals.

Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this thrilling edition of The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 
 
Investigate thrilling mysteries with the world's most famous private detective, Sherlock Holmes! 
 
From the strange case of 'The Red-Headed League' to the extraordinary tale of 'The Engineer's Thumb', Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson grapple with treachery, murder, and ingenious crimes of all kinds. But no case is too challenging for the relentless detective's unique powers of deduction.

The Lost World

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child 
 
Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this bold edition of The Lost World. 
 
Journalist Ed Malone is looking for an adventure, and that's exactly what he finds when he meets the eccentric Professor Challenger - an adventure that leads Malone and his three companions deep into the Amazon jungle, to a lost world where dinosaurs roam free.

Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this bold edition of The Lost World. 
 
Journalist Ed Malone is looking for an adventure, and that's exactly what he finds when he meets the eccentric Professor Challenger - an adventure that leads Malone and his three companions deep into the Amazon jungle, to a lost world where dinosaurs roam free.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child 
Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this thrilling edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles 
 
When Sir Charles Baskerville is found mysteriously dead in the grounds of Baskerville Hall, everyone remembers the legend of the monstrous creature that haunts the moor. The great detective Sherlock Holmes knows that there must be a more rational explanation, but the difficulty is to find it before the hellhound finds him.

Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this thrilling edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles 
 
When Sir Charles Baskerville is found mysteriously dead in the grounds of Baskerville Hall, everyone remembers the legend of the monstrous creature that haunts the moor. The great detective Sherlock Holmes knows that there must be a more rational explanation, but the difficulty is to find it before the hellhound finds him.

Arthur Conan Doyle: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

BBC Radio dramatisations and readings of some of Arthur Conan Doyle's other works - plus extracts from his letters and a bonus drama by Bert Coules 
 
Arthur Conan Doyle is well known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but he also wrote numerous works in which the great detective played no part. Included here are a selection of the best, ranging from science fiction to tales of supernatural terror and rip-roaring adventures set in Jacobean and Regency England. 
 
Our collection opens with the first of three dramas featuring the hot-tempered, larger-than-life scientist and explorer Professor Challenger. 'The Lost World' stars David Robb as Challenger, he heads on an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon Basin. Following this drama we have two further dramatisations starring Bill Paterson as Challenger this time. In 'When the World Screamed', he sets out on a bold mission to be recognised by Mother Earth, while 'The Disintegration Machine' sees him investigating dastardly Latvian inventor Theodore Nemor. 
 
'The Captain of the Polestar' drama tells the chilling story of a ship trapped in the Arctic, and stars Alec Heggie as Craigie, a man haunted by a strange apparition. 
 
Also included are the short stories 'Playing With Fire', 'How It Happened', 'One Crowded Hour', 'The Fall of Lord Barrymore', 'The Sealed Room' and 'The Lost Special' (read by Edward de Souza, Sam Dale, Christopher Harper and David Schofield), and the fascinating series Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, in which Forbes Masson and John Dougal read extracts from his correspondence to his mother about marriage, fatherhood, killing off Holmes and going into politics. Finally, how the author ran for Parliament in 1900 and lost is explored in Bert Coules' biographical drama Vote For Conan Doyle!, starring John Sessions. 
 
First published 1883 ('The Captain of the Polestar'), 1898 ('The Sealed Room', 'The Lost Special'), 1900 ('Playing With Fire'), 1911 ('One Crowded Hour'), 1912 ('The Lost World'), 1912 ('The Fall of Lord Barrymore'), 1913 ('How It Happened'), 1928 ('When The World Screamed'), 1929 ('The Disintegration Machine'), 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
 
Track list 
Dramatisations 
1. Professor Challenger: The Lost World - Episode 1 - A Bridge to the Unknown 
2. Professor Challenger: The Lost World - Episode 2 - Our Eyes Have Seen Great Wonders 
3. Professor Challenger: When The World Screamed 
4. Professor Challenger: The Disintegration Machine 
5. The Captain of the Polestar 
Short Stories 
6. Playing With Fire 
7. How It Happened 
8. One Crowded Hour 
9. The Fall of Lord Barrymore 
10. The Sealed Room 
11. The Lost Special 
Bonus content 
12. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters 
13. Vote for Conan Doyle! 
 
©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh into a prosperous Irish family. He trained as a doctor, gaining his degree from Edinburgh University in 1881. He worked as a surgeon on a whaling boat and also as a medical officer on a steamer travelling between Liverpool and West Africa. He then settled in Portsmouth on the English south coast and divided his time between medicine and writing. 
 
Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in A Study of Scarlet, published in 'Beeton's Christmas Annual' in 1887. Its success encouraged Conan Doyle to write more stories involving Holmes but, in 1893, Conan Doyle killed off Holmes, hoping to concentrate on more serious writing. A public outcry later made him resurrect Holmes. In addition, Conan Doyle wrote a number of other novels, including The Lost World and various non-fictional works. These included a pamphlet justifying Britain's involvement in the Boer War, for which he was knighted and histories of the Boer War and World War One, in which his son, brother and two of his nephews were killed. Conan Doyle also twice ran unsuccessfully for parliament. In later life he became very interested in spiritualism. 
 
Conan Doyle died of a heart attack on 7 July 1930.

BBC Radio dramatisations and readings of some of Arthur Conan Doyle's other works - plus extracts from his letters and a bonus drama by Bert Coules 
 
Arthur Conan Doyle is well known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but he also wrote numerous works in which the great detective played no part. Included here are a selection of the best, ranging from science fiction to tales of supernatural terror and rip-roaring adventures set in Jacobean and Regency England. 
 
Our collection opens with the first of three dramas featuring the hot-tempered, larger-than-life scientist and explorer Professor Challenger. 'The Lost World' stars David Robb as Challenger, he heads on an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon Basin. Following this drama we have two further dramatisations starring Bill Paterson as Challenger this time. In 'When the World Screamed', he sets out on a bold mission to be recognised by Mother Earth, while 'The Disintegration Machine' sees him investigating dastardly Latvian inventor Theodore Nemor. 
 
'The Captain of the Polestar' drama tells the chilling story of a ship trapped in the Arctic, and stars Alec Heggie as Craigie, a man haunted by a strange apparition. 
 
Also included are the short stories 'Playing With Fire', 'How It Happened', 'One Crowded Hour', 'The Fall of Lord Barrymore', 'The Sealed Room' and 'The Lost Special' (read by Edward de Souza, Sam Dale, Christopher Harper and David Schofield), and the fascinating series Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, in which Forbes Masson and John Dougal read extracts from his correspondence to his mother about marriage, fatherhood, killing off Holmes and going into politics. Finally, how the author ran for Parliament in 1900 and lost is explored in Bert Coules' biographical drama Vote For Conan Doyle!, starring John Sessions. 
 
First published 1883 ('The Captain of the Polestar'), 1898 ('The Sealed Room', 'The Lost Special'), 1900 ('Playing With Fire'), 1911 ('One Crowded Hour'), 1912 ('The Lost World'), 1912 ('The Fall of Lord Barrymore'), 1913 ('How It Happened'), 1928 ('When The World Screamed'), 1929 ('The Disintegration Machine'), 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
 
Track list 
Dramatisations 
1. Professor Challenger: The Lost World Episode 1- A Bridge to the Unknown 
2. Professor Challenger: The Lost World Episode 2 - Our Eyes Have Seen Great Wonders 
3. Professor Challenger: When The World Screamed 
4. Professor Challenger: The Disintegration Machine 
5. The Captain of the Polestar 
Short Stories 
6. Playing With Fire 
7. How It Happened 
8. One Crowded Hour 
9. The Fall of Lord Barrymore 
10. The Sealed Room 
11. The Lost Special 
Bonus content 
12. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters 
13. Vote for Conan Doyle! 
 
©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Captain of the Pole-Star

A classic ghost story illustrated by acclaimed cartoonist, Seth.When the Pole-Star is trapped in Arctic ice, its voyage comes to a halt and the lives of the crew are in danger. Superstition soon takes hold as the frightened men claim to hear ghosts in the darkness – but it’s the captain’s increasingly strange behaviour that concerns them the most.

Arthur Conan Doyle (Author) 
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and began to write stories while he was a student. Over his life he produced more than thirty books, 150 short stories, poems, plays and essays across a wide range of genres. His most famous creation is the detective Sherlock Holmes, who he introduced in his first novel A Study in Scarlet (1887). 
 
Seth (Illustrator) 
Seth's comic book series, Palookaville, has been collected into It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken and Clyde Fans. He is an illustrator for The New Yorker and the designer of best-selling The Complete Peanuts. His humorous graphic novel about the obsession for comic-book collecting, Wimbledon Green, was published by Cape in 2006.

60 Full-Cast Dramatisations

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete BBC Collection

Fully-dramatised adaptations of all 60 Sherlock Holmes stories, brought to life with a full cast of actors, sound effects and music 
 
'A remarkable undertaking... applauding them, and particularly Clive Merrison's Holmes, made my hands sore' The Times 
 
Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his dear friend Dr Watson are among the most enduringly popular fictional characters ever created. Their adventures have been dramatised countless times on radio, TV and film, but until BBC Radio 4 took on the challenge in 1989, no-one had ever attempted to adapt all sixty stories. 
 
Beginning with A Study in Scarlet and concluding with The Hound of the Baskervilles, their epic project took over 8 years to complete - and this landmark collection contains the extraordinary result of their labours. Here is the world's first ever fully-dramatised Sherlock Holmes canon: 56 short stories and 4 novels, all made by the same team of directors, producers, dramatists and leading actors, and packed with the high production qualities of a film or TV drama that set it apart. 
 
Starring one of radio's great double acts, Clive Merrison and Michael Williams, as Holmes and Watson, and with guest stars including Brian Blessed, Judi Dench, Maurice Denham, Andrew Sachs, Peter Davison, Robert Glenister and Harriet Walter, this definitive collection contains over 48 hours of enthralling listening. 
 
Also included is a bonus interview with Adrian Conan Doyle about his father, Sir Arthur, and some fascinating behind-the-scenes revelations from the series' head writer, Bert Coules, about the making of the radio adaptations. 
 
Cast 
Sherlock Holmes - Clive Merrison 
Dr John Watson - Michael Williams 
Mrs Hudson - Anna Cropper/Mary Allen/Joan Matheson/Judi Dench/ 
Inspector Gregson - John Moffatt 
Inspector Lestrade - Donald Gee/Stephen Thorne 
Mary Morstan/Mary Watson - Moir Leslie/Elizabeth Mansfield/Hannah Gordon 
Irene Adler - Sarah Badel 
Inspector Jones - Nigel Carrington 
Colonel Moran - Fraser Kerr/Frederick Treves 
Mycroft Holmes - John Hartley 
Professor Moriarty - Michael Pennington 
 
Production credits 
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle 
Dramatised by Bert Coules with David Ashton, Michael Bakewell, Roger Danes, Robert Forrest, Denys Hawthorne, Gerry Jones, Peter Ling, Vincent McInerney and Peter Mackie 
Produced and directed by Ian Cotterell, David Johnston, Patrick Rayner and Enyd Williams 
Musicians: Alexander Balanescu, Leonard Friedman, Richard Friedman, Michael Haslam, Ian Humphries and Abigail Young 
 
Contents 
A Study in Scarlet 
The Sign of the Four 
The Hound of the Baskervilles 
The Valley of Fear 
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 
A Scandal in Bohemia 
The Red-Headed League 
A Case of Identity 
The Boscombe Valley Mystery 
The Five Orange Pips 
The Man with the Twisted Lip 
The Blue Carbuncle 
The Speckled Band 
The Engineer's Thumb 
The Noble Bachelor 
The Beryl Coronet 
The Copper Beeches 
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 
Silver Blaze 
The Yellow Face 
The Stockbroker's Clerk 
The Gloria Scott 
The Musgrave Ritual 
The Reigate Squires 
The Crooked Man 
The Resident Patient 
The Greek Interpreter 
The Naval Treaty 
The Final Problem 
The Return of Sherlock Holmes 
The Empty House 
The Norwood Builder 
The Dancing Men 
The Solitary Cyclist 
The Priory School 
Black Peter 
Charles Augustus Milverton 
The Six Napoleons 
The Three Students 
The Golden Pince-Nez 
The Missing Three-Quarter 
The Abbey Grange 
The Second Stain 
His Last Bow 
Wisteria Lodge 
The Cardboard Box 
The Red Circle 
The Bruce-Partington Plans 
The Dying Detective 
The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax 
The Devil's Foot 
His Last Bow 
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes 
The Illustrious Client 
The Blanched Soldier 
The Mazarin Stone 
The Three Gables 
The Sussex Vampire 
The Three Garridebs 
The Problem of Thor Bridge 
The Creeping Man 
The Lion's Mane 
The Veiled Lodger 
Shoscombe Old Place 
The Retired Colourman 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between November 1989 and March 1995 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

A remarkable undertaking... applauding them, and particularly Clive Merrison's Holmes, made my hands sore

Arthur Conan Doyle

Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this thrilling edition of The Extraordinary Cases of Sherlock Holmes. 
 
Through the foggy streets of Victorian London to the deepest countryside, Sherlock Holmes uses his unique powers of deduction in eight thrilling investigations, including the mysteries of 'The Speckled Band' and 'The Reigate Puzzle'.

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Extraordinary Cases of Sherlock Holmes

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