Full Recording of ‘The Secret of Sherlock Holmes’

Earlier today a member of the The Sherlock Holmes Social Network (like Facebook but for Sherlockians - I’m a member - join!!) posted a link to a full recording of ‘The Secret of Sherlock Holmes’, a play written by Jeremy Paul and performed by Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke in 1988/1989. I’ve written about the play before, but today’s news is extremely exciting due to the fact that no extent recording of a performance is available online (or for sale); and I have yet to read an adequate and/or convincing explanation for why the play was never filmed or properly recorded/documented (and released).

[Play bill for ‘The Secret of Sherlock Holmes’.]

For the last two years one could listen to the first 30 minutes of an original performance on YouTube; always with the promise that the remaining 50 minutes were forthcoming. Happily, we now have 80 minutes of pure Brett/Hardwicke/Paul unadulterated gold! What better memorial could one imagine for the recently departed Paul and Hardwicke then the ability to sit back and listen to The Secret of Sherlock Holmes in it’s entirety?

Accompanying the audio recording itself is an interesting document called ‘A fan’s account of the play and meeting JB’ which, as the name implies, details the author’s opinion of the play and experience ‘waiting backstage’:

“Edward Hardwicke came out first. I remember that he was shorter than me, and had the kindest eyes of anybody I’ve ever known. I don’t remember much else, because my brains turned instantly into cottage cheese…And just as my heartrate started to settle, Brett walked out the stage door.  I’m afraid I dropped Hardwicke rather abruptly, and he made off too quickly for me to apologize, for which I will never forgive myself. But then I got to meet Jeremy Brett.” 

It’s an endearing story and there’s even a blurry (though no doubt cherished) picture of the author and Jeremy Brett. 

[The photo mentioned above is too low quality to post on here so we’ll go with this stock photo of Brett and Hardwicke from ‘Secret of Sherlock Holmes’.]

Technical note: Split up into two 40 minute parts, the mp3s are strangely encoded: Part 1 is at 64 kbps and Part 2 is 160 kbps, withe the audio quality of Part 1 being noticeably better than Part 2. But Boones can’t be choosers: I’m just happy this exists. And who knows, maybe one day in some musty London attic someone will come across their parents old video recordings and find a video of the play…stranger things have happened. On a side note, the complete audio seems to come from the same recoding as the YouTube posts so we’re still left with only one original source. 

And speaking of memorials, Lyndsay Faye (author of Dust and Shadows) posted a moving article about Hardwicke today at Criminal Element: A Lovely Dr. Watson: Edward Hardwicke, In Memoriam.  

Lastly, Martin Freeman (the newest Watson, recent BAFTA winner and future hobbit) mentioned the passing of Mr. Hardwicke thusly: “He says, “He was a great Watson, they were really good adaptations, it was great television. “I found out when a friend texted me while we were filming the second series of Sherlock, and I texted him back and and said hopefully I’ll pick up the torch.”

Freeman as Watson

[From: Martin Freeman Honours Late Sherlock Holmes Star Edward Hardwicke.]

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