Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

At the ‘Christmas with the Doctor’ convention in Andover on Sunday 1st November 2026, I purchased ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ DVD, starring Colin Baker as Sherlock Holmes and Terry Molloy as Dr. Watson. I’ve greatly enjoyed checking out the DVD release!

This happens to be a theatre production of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. It’s quite similar to the theatre production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ starring Colin Baker, which I’ve seen twice already. The first time was on DVD and the second time was at ‘Christmas with the Doctor’.

The theatre production is performed like a radio play where the actors are reading the script on stage with sound effects supplied by a stage manager. This is a unique and very fascinating way to view a theatre production of a story without the need to dress up for it.

Having enjoyed the Crime and Comedy Theatre Company version of ‘A Christmas Carol’, both on DVD and on stage at the ‘Christmas with the Doctor’ event in Andover this month, I decided to check out ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ as another theatre DVD experience.

Mind you, I think it’d be fair to say that I’m not so familiar with ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ as a story compared to ‘A Christmas Carol’. I knew most of the lines off by heart in ‘A Christmas Carol’ compared to what I knew in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’.

Beforehand, I’d seen a few versions of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This included a theatre performance that I saw in Cardiff many years ago as well as the 1939 film ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.

There’s also the ‘Sherlock’ episode ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, but I wouldn’t consider that to be a close adaptation of the original novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The 1939 film is a more faithful adaptation than that.

With that said, and I did rewatch the 1939 film recently, it was fascinating to note some differences between the Crime and Comedy Theatre Company version and the 1939 film. I’m guessing the radio play theatre version has more in common with the original book. 🙂

‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ was adapted and directed as a radio play on stage by Martin Parsons, who co-organises the ‘Happy Who Year’ and ‘Christmas with the Doctor’ events. It was also produced by Kate Ashmead, and she’s Martin Parsons’ wife in real-life.

It was great to see Colin Baker and Terry Molloy performing together as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in this theatre radio play. Both are well-known for being in ‘Doctor Who’, since Colin Baker usually plays the Sixth Doctor and Terry Molloy usually plays Davros. 🙂

Terry Molloy gets to be the narrator of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ story, since Dr. Watson narrates the story from his point of view. Colin Baker also gets to be more than one character in this, as he plays Sherlock Holmes, John Barrymore and Mr. Frankland. 🙂

I was expecting either John Barrymore or Mr. Frankland to be revealed as a disguised Sherlock Holmes like in the 1939 film where Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock happened to be in disguise. It turned out not to be the case, which was very fascinating to witness indeed.

Colin Baker and Terry Molloy are also joined by Dee Sadler as Dr. Mortimer. Dee Sadler, in ‘Doctor Who’ circles, is well-known for playing Flowerchild in ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’. She’s also been in the ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ 1990 Christmas Special.

It was fascinating to see Dee Sadler as Dr. Mortimer in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. Traditionally, in the book and in the 1939 film, Dr. Mortimer is depicted as a man. Dee Sadler also plays Laura Lyons, who is someone that is unwittingly manipulated in the tale.

The rest of the cast includes David Sandham as Sir Henry Baskerville, Kate Ashmead as Eliza Barrymore and Martin Parsons as Jack Stapleton. Other parts are played by members of the cast whilst Imogen Jones is the stage manager for this theatre production.

In terms of the DVD release, this production of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ was filmed at the Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere in Cumbria, which would’ve been on the 12th of April 2025, according to the Crime and Comedy Theatre Company website.

Apparently, Colin Baker, Terry Molloy and Dee Sadler performed ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ in 2022, 2024 and 2025. It’s amazing to think this production has been performed at many theatres over the years, though mainly in England compared to Wales.

At the end of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ DVD, there’s a note saying ‘Colin Baker and Terry Molloy will return in ‘Sherlock Holmes & The Sign of Four’. I don’t know if that means there’s going to be a DVD release for ‘The Sign of Four’ at some point in the near future. 😐

I know Colin Baker and Terry Molloy have appeared in ‘The Sign of Four’ production in late 2025 and early 2026. But whether that means a DVD release of the theatre production is on its way, I don’t know. I’ll have to keep a look out for any sign of it appearing on a DVD. 😀

Otherwise, I’m very glad to have seen another theatre production with Colin Baker on DVD in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ after enjoying him as Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol’ twice now. Colin Baker and Terry Molloy are also excellent as Sherlock and Watson.

I wouldn’t mind seeing another theatre production, whether in real-life or on DVD, of Colin Baker and Terry Molloy as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. They work well as the duo and they deliver captivating performances when telling the story on stage to the audience.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂