Doctor Who Vs. Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes

This period drama was inspired by the real-

life relationship between Arthur Conan Doyle

(1859-1930) and his mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell

(1837-1911), the apparent model for his

most famed creation, Sherlock Holmes.

A two-part pilot for BBC2 starred Scottish 

actors Ian Richardson (1934-2007) as Bell

 (pictured on location) and Robin Laing as 

medical student Doyle (based at Edinburgh 

University, circa 1877). 

Charles Edwards was then cast as Doyle

 (pictured left) for the full series (when the 

newly qualified doctor was establishing his
practice in Southsea, c. 1882). Richardson
reprised Bell - he had himself depicted the

Great Detective for Mapleton Films' 1983

productions, The Hound of the Baskervilles 

and The Sign of Four.

Bell's influence was later examined in The 
Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur 

Conan Doyle, also scripted by series writer

David Pirie. The next four thrillers all aired on BBC1 in the autumn of 2001.

The programme was released on VHS in 2003, then issued on DVD (with-

out the pilot) in 2012, and the run featured a total of thirty-one Doctor

Who cast and crew connections:

The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (TX: January 4 & 5 2000)

• director Paul Seed was the Graff Vynda-Ka in The Ribos Operation
• Bernard [Arthur Gordon] Horsfall (Crawford Snr. here; Frankland in The Hound of the Baskervilles) was Lemual Gulliver in The Mind Robber, Time Lord in The War Games, Taron in Planet of the Daleks, and Chancellor Goth in The Deadly Assassin, then voiced Arnold Baynes for Big Finish's Davros (2003)
• [Mark] Alec Newman (Thomas Neill) voiced Ed Driscoll for Blue Forgotten Planet (2009), Dr. Julius for The Silent Scream (2017), and Dr. James Breck for Jamie (2023)
• David Monteath (Voice actor) voiced Herald/Brother Marcus/Farmer Hennok for The Quin Dilemma (2024)

The Patient's Eyes (TX: September 4 2001)

• Alexander [Henry Fenwick] Armstrong (Turnavine) provided the voice of Mr. Smith for The Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane's Alien Files, The Stolen Earth, Journey's End and Redacted, then appeared as Reg Arwell in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
• Andrew [Hugh] Woodall (Greenwell) depicted Rex Tucker in An Adventure in Space and Time
• Simon [Timothy] Chandler (DI Warner) voiced Corporal Arthur Dimes for Churchill Victorious (2018)
• Lee Sherward was also a stunt co-ordinator on eleven episodes of the revived run, Torchwood: Miracle Day and Sherlock

The Photographer's Chair (TX: September 18)

• Roger [Anthony] Lloyd Pack (Ibbotson) was John Lumic in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel
• Sarah Badel (Mrs. Berkley) voiced Lady Isobelle Danvers for Jago & Litefoot 9 (2015)
• series production assistant Holly Pullinger was production manager (PM) on The Eleventh Hour, The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone, The Vampires of Venice and Vincent and the Doctor
• Neal Champion (SFX supervisor here & Mr. Holmes) worked on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• Tim Faulkner (location manager) voiced Highgate for The End of the Beginning, and Charles Hookham/Flindor/Wilbur Grits for The God of Phantoms (both 2021)

The Kingdom of Bones (TX: September 25)

• Stephen Gallagher was also writer of Warriors' Gate, Terminus, Big Finish's Nightmare Country (2019) and BBC Audio's The Kairos Ring (2021)
• Warwick [Ashley] Davis was Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick Cord Longstaff XLI, known as Porridge in Nightmare in Silver
• Miles Richardson (Thurn here; Cox for The Return of Sherlock Holmes) was Captain Douglas Cavendish in Downtime and Daemos Rising, Draconian in Mindgame, Soldier in White Witch of Devil's End, and voiced Irving Braxiatel for Bernice Summerfield (2001 to 2018) and from Zagreus (2003) to Time War 4 (2021), then voiced Black Rod for The Gunpowder Plot, and Charles Darwin for Bloodtide (2001)
• John [Gibb] Sessions [born Marshall] (Rutherford here; Bell in Reichenbach Falls; Kenny Price in Sherlock: The Great Game; Mycroft Holmes in Mr. Holmes) voiced General Tannis for Death Comes to Time, Mozart for My Own Private Wolfgang (2007), Roland for Castle of Fear (2009), then provided the voice of Gus for Mummy on the Orient Express
• Ian McNeice (Donovan) portrayed Winston Churchill in The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, The Pandorica Opens and The Wedding of River Song then Big Finish's The Churchill Years, Their Finest Hour (2018), Subterfuge and Operation: Hellfire (both 2020), and also Zeus for Immortal Beloved (2007), and Reginald Harcourt for Renaissance Man (2012)
• Daphne [Margaret du Grivel] Oxenford (Dowager) was the Archivist in (part 2 of) Dragonfire
• Cyril [Leonard] Shaps (Smoot here; Orlov in The Baker Street Boys; Emperor in Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady) was John Viner in The Tomb of the Cybermen, Dr. Lennox in The Ambassadors of Death, Professor Herbert Clegg in Planet of the Spiders, and the Archimandrite in The Androids of Tara
• John [Macdonald] Stahl [born Steele] (Milford) voiced Whitenoise for Red (2006)
• Jessica Brooks (Elizabeth) voiced Qaren/Wraith for Daleks Among Us (2013)
• John Paul Connolly (Tattooed Man) voiced William Russell/Russian Guard for The Angel of Scutari (2009), and Casey for The Talents of Greel (2019)
• Gareth Milne (stunt co-ordinator here and Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia; stuntman on The Hound of the Baskervilles) was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos, and doubled for Peter Davison on Warriors of the Deep

The White Knight Stratagem (TX: October 2)

• Annette [Ross Mcleod] Crosbie (Booth) was Mrs. Angelo in The Eleventh Hour
• Ron Donachie (Fergusson) was a Steward in Tooth and Claw
• Ronald [Alfred] Pickup (Starr here; Barrymore in The Hound of the Baskervilles) made his TV debut as the Physician in The Reign of Terror (4), and voiced Kestorian for Time Works (2006), Elder Bones for Spaceport Fear (2013), the Old One for Jago & Litefoot 12 (2016), and Jacob Harmer for The Wizard of Time (2023)
• Michael J Jackson (Orde) was Sir Geoffrey de Lacey in The King's Demons
• Hugh Ross (Doyle Snr.) voiced Reverend Merodach for Night's Black Agents (2010), Robert Stretton for Industrial Evolution (2011), Vepaja/Thraskin for Voyage to Venus (2012), Sir Toby Kinsella for Counter Measures, 1963: The Assassination Games (2013), The Reesinger Process (2014) and Split Infinitive (2019), Kyle Inskip for Masters of Earth, Gethal for The Exxilons (2015), Charles Kirkland for The Trouble With Drax (2016), Narrator of Late Night Shopping, The Piltdown Men and Waiting for Gadot (2017), Malcolm for The Keeper of Light, and Stern for Here Lies Drax (both 2022)
• Lucy Allen (Alicia) was stunt performer on The Zygon Inversion 
• Sean Clayton was also second assistant director of Dalek and Father's Day