A Study in Scarlet

[Director_General]

The first Saturday Night Theatre I can remember was an adaptation of the first Sherlock Holmes Story “A Study in Scarlet”. The broadcast featured Robert Powel as Holmes and Dinsdale Landen as Watson. From the first few minutes I was hooked.

I was 15 at the time, and this was the first feature length drama (current BBC term) I had listened to. Previously I had only listened to the occasional 30 minute comedy. My family were all committed TV watchers so I can’t recall what caused me to discover the series, but I am so glad I did as Radio Drama in general and Saturday Night Theatre in particular have given me almost 30 years of pleasure.

What made the first experience extra special was the fact that we had recently purchased what was called at the time a “music centre” Which featured our first stereo FM radio. This added greatly to the atmosphere and enjoyment of the piece. Many people currently involved in radio drama fail to understand how much a good stereo recording enhances a production. Of course everything depends on having a good script and a cast who can deliver that script, but when you have all of those ingredients the stereo recording truly adds quality. A discussion for another posting I feel.

I guess looking back I couldn’t have had a better introduction to Radio Drama. Sherlock Holmes is right up every 15 year old boy’s street. As a buy-product of the broadcast I soon after read the entire Holmes cannon. This was the first of many happy Saturday Night’s spent listening to the Radio for a few years, until I discovered girls were even more fun, but not always as reliable as the BBC.

The BBC released a cassette version of the broadcast, which I still have. I occasionally listen to it and can again become a boy in early 1978 when my only worries were, had I done all my homework and what would next weeks Saturday Night Theatre be.