Doctor Who Vs. The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Series 2

Jeremy Brett and Edward
Hardwicke returned as Holmes
and Watson for the fourth series

of Granada's acclaimed period

drama, originally shown in the

spring of 1988. 

The Sign of Four (only the second

Holmes novel, published in 1890)

and The Hound of the Baskervilles

(the most famous and adapted of Conan Doyles' works, issued in 1902) were dramatised here as

feature-length serials, which book

-ended the other four cases, all

based on the writer's short

stories. Three of the mysteries were part of the 1917 collection, His Last

Bow, whilst Silver Blaze (from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes) appeared

in 1892. A repeat run of the season continued on ITV4 today - it featured

a total of twenty-nine Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

The Sign of Four (UK TX: December 29 1987)

• Derek Deadman (Williams here; Haddocks in Dr. Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery) was Commander Stor in The Invasion of Time
• Kiran Shah (Tonga here & The Crucifer of Blood; stuntman on Holmes & Watson) was the Figure in Listen, and Emojibot in Smile
• [Robert] Emrys James (DI Athelney Jones) was Aukon in State of Decay
• Gordon [Massey] Gostelow (Sherman here; Johnson in The Bruce Partington Plans) was Milo Clancey in The Space Pirates
• William Ash (Smith) was Riley Vashtee in 42
• Tommy Wright (Workman) was the Guardmaster in The Creature from the Pit
• Renu Setna (Achmet) was the Intern in (part 1 of) The Hand of Fear
• stuntman Chris Webb was a Monoid in The Ark, and Guard in The Curse of Peladon (1)
• for Alf Joint see The Final Problem

The Devil's Foot (UK TX: April 6 1988)

• writer Gary Hopkins was commissioned to provide a story for the aborted season 23 - Power Play was eventually adapted by Big Finish in 2012

Silver Blaze (UK TX: April 13)

• Peter [Wynn] Barkworth (Ross) was Leader Clent in The Ice Warriors
• David John (Hunter) was Derek in Survival, then voiced Robber for Comeback, Liam McShane for The Rapture (both 2002), Sir James Royston for Picture This, and Peter Stepney for The Flickermen (both 2016)
• Jonathan Coy (Simpson) voiced Fowler for The Flying Frenchmen and Return of the Nightmare (both 2015)
• Sally Faulkner (Mrs. Straker) was Isobel Watkins in The Invasion, and voiced Miss Tremayne for Winter for the Adept (2000)
• Russell Hunter [born Ellis] (Brown here; Coombs in The Masks of Death) was Commander [Kiy] Uvanov in The Robots of Death
• stunt arranger Greg [Owen] Powell was the Knight in The Time Monster

Wisteria Lodge (UK TX: April 20)

• Sonny Caldinez (the Mulatto here; the Mummy in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Lot 249) was Kemel in The Evil of the Daleks, Turoc in The Ice Warriors, Warrior in The Seeds of Death, Ssorg in The Curse of Peladon, and Sskel in The Monster of Peladon

The Bruce Partington Plans (UK TX: April 27)

• John [Sumner] Gorrie was director of The Keys of Marinus too
• for Denis Lill see The Man With the Twisted Lip
• Jonathan Newth (Walter here; Darriand in The Case of Marcel Duchamp) was Orfe in Underworld
• Sebastian Stride (West) was a Crewman in Nightmare of Eden
• [Albert] Geoffrey Bayldon (Johnson here; Hadlock for Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson: The Case of the Deadly Tower) was Organon in The Creature from the Pit, and voiced the Doctor for Auld Mortality (2003) and A Storm of Angels (2005)
• Derek Ware (Oberstein) was uncredited fight arranger on 100,000 BC, The  Aztecs (4), The Crusade (1), The Feast of Steven, The Underwater Menace (3), The Web of Fear (1), and stuntman on Terror of the Autons (1), then appeared as Bus Conductor in The Chase (6), Trojan Soldier in The Myth Makers (4), Tuthmos in The Daleks' Master Plan, Spaniard in The Smugglers, UNIT Soldier in The Ambassadors of Death, Private Wyatt in Inferno, and Pigbin Josh in The Claws of Axos (1)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (UK TX: August 31)

• Ronald [Alfred] Pickup (Barrymore here; Holmes for The Singular Case of Sherlock H and Sigmund F; Narrator for The Valley of Death, 1997; Starr in The White Knight Stratagem) 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)
• Bernard [Arthur Gordon] Horsfall (Frankland here; Holmes in To Kill a King; Crawford Snr. in The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes) was Lemuel Gulliver in The Mind Robber, Time Lord in The War Games, Taron in Planet of the Daleks, Chancellor Goth in The Deadly Assassin, and voiced Arnold Baynes for Davros (2003)
• Don McKillop (Vicar) was Bert in The Daemons
• William [Michael] Ilkley [born Brown] (Selden) was Tim Bass in The Mark of the Rani
• Donald [Harold Gunn] Bisset (Manservant) was Colin McClaren in The Highlanders
• stuntman Gareth Milne was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos, and doubled for Peter Davison on Warriors of the Deep