Doctor Who Vs. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1954)

This period drama was the first American television

adaptation of Conan Doyle's works, and the only

version until Elementary in 2012. The thirty-nine

part season was produced by Sheldon Reynolds in

France, for Guild Films, and was syndicated from

late 1954.

Ronald Howard (1918-1996) and Howard Marion

Crawford (1914-1969) portrayed Holmes and Watson,

whilst Archie Duncan was Lestrade. Reynolds

produced a second TV series in 1979 - many of the

earlier episodes were reworked for Sherlock Holmes

 and Doctor Watson.

A repeat run of the black-and-white production

continued on Talking Pictures TV today, and featured

these five future Doctor Who cast links:

• Peter [Francis Gabain] Copley (Lord Beryl/ Winthrop) was Dr. Warlock in Pyramids of Mars
• [Francis] Michael Gough (Partridge) was the titular entity in The Celestial Toymaker, and Councillor Hedin in Arc of Infinity
• Harry Towb (O'Casey/Willis) was Osgood in (episode 1 of) The Seeds of Death, and McDermott in Terror of the Autons
• Seymour [Knolles] Green (Commissioner/DI Mason) was Hargreaves in The Seeds of Doom, and the Chamberlain in The Twin Dilemma
• Michael [Pierce] Turner (Reeves) was Jarvis Bennett in The Wheel in Space

Reynolds' Anglo-Polish reboot (never shown in the UK) starred

Geoffrey Whitehead (Holmes), Donald Pickering (Watson), Patrick

Newell (Lestrade), and sixteen further Doctor Who cast connections

- Bernard Bresslaw, Keith Skinner, Tony Caunter, William Morgan

Sheppard, Glynis Barber, Derren Nesbitt, John Carson, Iain Rattray,

Brian Hawskley, Catherine Schell, Geoffrey Bayldon, Michael Sheard,

James Bree, Patsy Smart, Eric Francis, and Colette Gleeson