Clive Merrison stars as Holmes with Michael Williams as Watson in these twelve adventures from the unique, fully dramatised BBC canon of Conan Doyle's short stories and novels

The Illustrious Client; The Blanched Soldier; The Mazarin Stone; The Three Gables; The Sussex Vampire; The Three Garridebs; The Problem of Thor Bridge; The Creeping Man; The Lion's Mane; The Veiled Lodger; Shoscombe Old Place; The Retired Colourman.

These short stories are the very last ones written by Arthur Conan Doyle about his much-loved fictional detective. Holmes and Watson are faced with cases that range from the suspicious to the seemingly supernatural, and encounter characters as diverse as an evil Austrian adventurer, a formidable female criminal, a distinguished professor who is acting oddly and a mysterious tenant who refuses to show her face.

Gripping, suspenseful and hugely entertaining, these acclaimed dramatisations were adapted by Bert Coules from the original short stories. Among the guest cast are Hannah Gordon, Robert Glenister, Michael Troughton, Alexandra Bastedo, Harriet Walter, Douglas Henshall and George Cole. Also included on CD 12 is an interview with Adrian Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur's son, recorded in 1945. Duration: 9 hours approx.
About the Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and began to write stories while he was a student.Over his life he produced more than thirty books, 150 short stories, poems, plays and essays across a wide range of genres. His most famous creation is the detective Sherlock Holmes, who he introduced in his first novel A Study in Scarlet (1887). This was followed in 1889 by an historical novel, Micah Clarke. In 1893 Conan Doyle published 'The Final Problem' in which he killed off his famous detective so that he could turn his attention more towards historical fiction. However Holmes was so popular that Conan Doyle eventually relented and published The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901. The events of the The Hound of the Baskervilles are set before those of 'The Final Problem' but in 1903 new Sherlock Holmes stories began to appear that revealed that the detective had not died after all. He was finally retired in 1927. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died on 7 July 1930.

MICHAEL WILLIAMS is the best-selling author of On the Slow Train, On the Slow Train Again, Steaming to Victory and The Trains Now Departed. Michael is a journalist and academic - writing, broadcasting and blogging on transport, society, the media and other issues of the day for the national media and many other outlets, including the Independent, the Independent on Sunday, the BBC, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian the New Statesman, the Tablet, the History Channel, as well as the specialist and business press. Michael is also a leading travel writer, reporting on journeys around the world for a variety of publications. In his academic role, he is co-editor and author of the book The Future of Quality News Journalism. Formerly, he was deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday, executive editor of The Independent and head of news and features at the Sunday Times. Previously he was a member of the home news staff of The Times in London. In addition, Michael Williams is chairman of the Springdene Care Homes group in London and external examiner in the School of Media and Communication at Goldsmiths University, London. He lives with his family in Camden Town, London..