Arthur Conan Doyle

In 1880 a young medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle embarked upon an adventure, taking a berth as ship’s surgeon on an Arctic whaler, the Hope. The voyage took him to unknown regions, showered him with dramatic and unexpected experiences, and plunged him into dangerous work on the ice floes of the Arctic seas.

Arthur Conan Doyle is well known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but he also wrote numerous works in which the great detective played no part. Included here are a selection of the best, ranging from science fiction to tales of supernatural terror and rip-roaring adventures set in Jacobean and Regency England. Our collection opens with the first of three dramas featuring the hot-tempered, larger-than-life scientist and explorer Professor Challenger. 'The Lost World' stars David Robb as Challenger, he heads on an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon Basin. Following this drama we have two further dramatisations starring Bill Paterson as Challenger this time. In 'When the World Screamed', he sets out on a bold mission to be recognised by Mother Earth, while 'The Disintegration Machine' sees him investigating dastardly Latvian inventor Theodore Nemor.

'The Captain of the Polestar' drama tells the chilling story of a ship trapped in the Arctic, and stars Alec Heggie as Craigie, a man haunted by a strange apparition. Also included are the short stories 'Playing With Fire', 'How It Happened', 'One Crowded Hour', 'The Fall of Lord Barrymore', 'The Sealed Room' and 'The Lost Special' (read by Edward de Souza, Sam Dale, Christopher Harper and David Schofield), and the fascinating series Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, in which Forbes Masson and John Dougal read extracts from his correspondence to his mother about marriage, fatherhood, killing off Holmes and going into politics. Finally, how the author ran for Parliament in 1900 and lost is explored in Bert Coules' biographical drama Vote For Conan Doyle!, starring John Sessions.

The Case-book contains the last stories Conan Doyle wrote featuring Sherlock Holmes and the ever faithful Watson.

From the strange case of 'The Red-Headed League' to the extraordinary tale of 'The Engineer's Thumb', Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson grapple with treachery, murder and ingenious crimes of all kinds. But no case is too challenging for the immortal detective's unique power of deduction.

The terrible spectacle of the beast, the fog of the moor, the discovery of a body: this classic horror story pits detective against dog. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the wild Devon moorland with the footprints of a giant hound nearby, the blame is placed on a family curse. It is left to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson to solve the mystery of the legend of the phantom hound before Sir Charles' heir comes to an equally gruesome end.

Determined to prove the existence of The Lost World, Professor Edward Challenger mounts a British expedition team to travel through the uncharted Amazon jungle to this prehistoric plateau.

Some of the most famous of the Sherlock Holmes stories in which Dr. Watson assists in the solution of crime.

A comprehensive collection of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories starring Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley - plus bonus documentary. Legendary actor Carleton Hobbs played the great Baker Street detective for over 17 years between 1952 and 1969 alongside Norman Shelley as Holmes's friend and companion Dr Watson.

Their superb incarnations of the crime-fighting duo were exceptionally popular and are now wonderfully nostalgic. This unique collection contains the existing Sherlock Holmes dramas in chronological order of publication each a faithful standalone adaptation of the original tale.

Of the 56 short stories in the canon 51 are included here ('The Adventure of the Yellow Face' 'The Adventure of the Gloria Scott' 'The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger' and 'The Adventure of the Creeping Man' were never made and 'The Adventure of the Three Students' is missing from the BBC archives). Also featured are dramatisations of the four novels: A Study in Scarlet The Sign of the Four The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear. Among the star casts are Grizelda Hervey Humphrey Morton Gudrun Ure Sylvia Coleridge and Rolf Lefebvre.

Concluding our collection is a fascinating 40-minute programme Chosen Companions: Sherlock Holmes in which Richard Usborne one-time assistant editor of The Strand Magazine selects his favourite extracts from the books (read by Carleton Hobbs) to weave together the story of Sherlock Holmes' development.

NB: Due to the age and nature of some of the recordings the sound quality may vary.

Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his dear friend Dr Watson are among the most enduringly popular fictional characters ever created. Their adventures have been dramatised countless times on radio, TV and film, but until BBC Radio 4 took on the challenge in 1989, no-one had ever attempted to adapt all sixty stories. Beginning with A Study in Scarlet and concluding with The Hound of the Baskervilles, their epic project took over 8 years to complete - and this landmark collection contains the extraordinary result of their labours. Here is the world's first ever fully-dramatised Sherlock Holmes canon: 56 short stories and 4 novels, all made by the same team of directors, producers, dramatists and leading actors, and packed with the high production qualities of a film or TV drama that set it apart.

Starring one of radio's great double acts, Clive Merrison and Michael Williams, as Holmes and Watson, and with guest stars including Brian Blessed, Judi Dench, Maurice Denham, Andrew Sachs, Peter Davison, Robert Glenister and Harriet Walter, this definitive collection contains over 48 hours of enthralling listening. Also included is a bonus interview with Adrian Conan Doyle about his father, Sir Arthur, and some fascinating behind-the-scenes revelations from the series' head writer, Bert Coules, about the making of the radio adaptations.

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman - Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year: a large, lustrous pearl. Now she has had an intriguing invitation to meet her unknown benefactor and urges Holmes and Watson to accompany her. And in the ensuing investigation - which involves a wronged woman, a stolen hoard of Indian treasure, a wooden-legged ruffian, a helpful dog and a love affair - even the jaded Holmes is moved to exclaim, 'Isn't it gorgeous!'

Romance, chivalry, battles and brutality are all present as the hero, Sir Nigel Loring, and his attendant, Aylward, seek their fortunes in England and France in the early years of the Hundred Years War.

IThe first of the Sherlock Holmes stories: Holmes and Watson are summoned to a London house where they find a dead man whose contorted face is a twisted mask of horror. On the wall, a mysterious word has been written in blood. The police are baffled by the crime, but when Sherlock Holmes applies his brilliantly logical mind to the problem he uncovers a tragic tale of love and deadly revenge...

Continuing the adventures of Sir Nigel Loring and The White Company, a group of English mercenaries he leads through France in the Hundred Years War. Sequel to 'Sir Nigel' (6138).

A selection of cases from Dr Watson's notebooks which culminate in the strange disappearance of Sherlock Holmes in Switzerland.

Dr Watson believed that Sherlock Holmes had died at Reichenbach Falls. To Watson's surprise and delight he reappears three years later and the pair are soon at work in search of London's second most dangerous man.

A cipher message and a horrible murder in a Sussex village begin the case which has Sherlock Holmes battling against his arch enemy, Dr Moriarty.