Doctor Who Vs. Young Sherlock Holmes

Shown on Sky Cinema Greats today, this period

adventure (subtitled The Pyramid of Fear in the

UK) depicted the first encounter between the

teenage Sherlock Holmes and John Watson -

portrayed by Nicholas Rowe and Alan Cox.

As students at London's Brompton Academy, the

friends soon become embroiled in typical Amblin

family fare - with Elizabeth (Sophie Ward), they

uncover the secret Egyptian cult of Rame Tep.

Based inside a wooden pyramid, hidden within

a Wapping warehouse, the cult is led by Eh-Tar

 (an anagram of Rathe, Holmes' school master).

A coda saw the Professor (Anthony Higgins) flee

England and adopt the alias of Moriarty (Higgins

 would later play the Great Detective in Sherlock Holmes Returns).

Released by Paramount in 1985, the film

(produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Chris Columbus) featured nineteen Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Rowe (Holmes here & The Lady in Grey segment of Mr. Holmes) voiced Rivesh Mantilax for Dreamland, then the Kandyman for Big Finish's Ravenous 1 (2018), Cato Kelgoth for The Passenger (2022), and Sebastian Hardcastle for Far From Home (2023)
• Cox (Watson here; Moriarty for The Final Problem; Agamemnon for The Sacrifice of Sherlock Holmes & The Prophet in the Rain) voiced John Matthews for The Roof of the World (2004), Mark Seven for The Destroyers (2010), Oscar Wilde for Beautiful Things (2012), Diggery/ Grenville for The Auntie Matter (2013), Dr. Gideon McDivett for The Ghosts of Gralstead (2014), the titular entity for Death and the Queen, Fanshawe for Who Killed Toby Kinsella?, Speravore for World Enough and Time, Robert Harley/Warder for The Eye of the Storm (all 2016), Eamon Orensky for The Skin of the Sleek and The Thief Who Stole Time (both 2017), Fabian Solak for The Cars That Ate London!, Tompino for Collision Course (both 2019), Ken Bright Thompson for Stranded 1 (2020) and Stranded 4 (2022), Sergeant Winston Price for The Doctor and Carnacki, and was Narrator of War Stories (both 2024)
• Ward (Elizabeth) voiced the Storyteller for AudioGo's Aladdin Time (2011)
• Nigel [Hector Munro] Stock (Waxflatter here; Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes, BBC) was Professor Hayter in Time Flight
• Roger Ashton-Griffiths (DS Lestrade) was Quayle in Robot of Sherwood
• Donald [Yarrow] Eccles (Nesbit) was Krasis in The Time Monster
• Patrick [David] Newell (Bobster here; PC Benson in A Study in Terror; Lestrade in Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson; Blessington in The Resident Patient) was Colonel Faraday in The Android Invasion
• [David] Roger Brierley (Mr. Holmes) was Trevor in (episode 8 of) The Daleks' Master Plan, and provided the voice of Drathro in The Mysterious Planet
• Nadim [Joakim] Sawalha (Khasek) voiced Swapnil Khan for The Magic Mousetrap (2009), and the Old Man for 1001 Nights (2012)
• John Scott Martin (Caretaker here; Scientist in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes) appearanced in seventy-six episodes (usually as a Dalek operator, from The Web Planet to Remembrance of the Daleks)
• Gary Dean (Man) was Technician in The Ice Warriors (1), German Soldier in The War Games (3), and UNIT Soldier in The Silurians (3)
• Cathey Munroe (Lady) was Skonnan in The Horns of Nimon, Humanoid in Full Circle, and Maid in Ghost Light
• Henry Roberts (Master) was Jousting Judge in The King's Demons (1)
• Fred Wood (Patron here; Beggar in Study in Terror; Roadie in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother) was the Running Man in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 AD
• stunt performer Tracey Eddon doubled for Sophie Aldred
• stunt arranger Marc Boyle was stuntman on Terror of the Autons, fight arranger on The Time Warrior, Prisoner/UNIT Motorcyclist in The Mind of Evil, Kronos in The Time Monster, and Exxilon in Death to the Daleks
• fencing instructor Arthur Howell was Confederate Horseman in The War Games
• stuntman Steve Whyment was Extra in The Keeper of Traken and Snakedance
• Peter Bennett was also the first assistant director on The Hounds of Baskerville and fourteen revived series episodes (from Bad Wolf to The End of Time), Attack of the Graske and Torchwood, production manager (on The Doctor's Daughter, Midnight, The Stolen Earth and Journey's End), and producer of twenty-one stories (from The Beast Below to Twice Upon a Time)