In Review: Big Finish: Sherlock Holmes: The Master of Blackstone Grange

The game is afoot!
by March 27, 2018

Synopsis: Sherlock Holmes returns to Big Finish! Nicholas Briggs plays the famous detective with Richard Earl as Dr John Watson, in two new adventures by writer Jonathan Barnes. The game is afoot!

Review: Christmas comes again in March with the release of Sherlock Holmes: The Master of Blackstone Grange. Writer Jonathan Barnes offers two new stand-alone adventures within a different continuity than his previous box sets. It’s different continuity due to the treatment of Watson’s personal life and the nature of the potential ongoing threat threaded throughout.

The new threat implied in the first tale, The Master of Blackstone Grange, is Moriarty ’s successor. Whether or not listeners encounter Moriarty’s successor in the second story, The Adventure of the Fleet Street Transparency, remains to be seen. Either way, both stories are marked by uneasy alliances wrapped in familiar Holmesian tropes.

As ever, Nicholas Briggs and Richard Earl do superb work. They’re aided by friends and foes played by Harry Peacock, Lucy Briggs-Owen, John Banks, and Tim Bentinck. However, it’s  Blake Ritson who stands out within the marvelous cast. He’s perfection as a new force to be reckoned with at the end of an era. I’m glad Ritson will continue in this role, and I look forward to discovering his true motives as the larger narrative unfolds.

 

Written By: Jonathan Barnes

Directed By: Ken Bentley

Cast

Nicholas Briggs (Sherlock Holmes), Richard Earl (Dr John Watson), Harry Peacock (‘Honest’ Jim Sheedy), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Genevieve Dumont), Tim Bentinck (Mycroft Holmes / Apothecary), John Banks (Colonel Sebastian Moran), Eve Webster (Grace / Ettie), Nigel Hastings (Horace Grigg), David Birrell (Inspector Felix Abell / Lord Arthur Perowne), Tomm Coles (Ferndown / Chilcott), Blake Ritson (Dr Kemp), Anjella Mackintosh (Lydia Rangeley / Sally), Leighton Pugh (Hubert Rangeley / Clark / Mr Blythe / Impressario). Other parts played by members of the cast.

Producers: Nicholas Briggs & Ken Bentley

Line Producer: David Richardson

Script Editor: Ken Bentley

Executive Producers: Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

9.5
Big Finish: Sherlock Holmes: The Master of Blackstone Grange
  • Story
    8.5
  • Performances
    10
  • Audio Production
    10
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by Ian Cullen - Mar 27, 2018

by Raissa Devereux - Mar 27, 2018

Raissa Devereux became a life-long genre fan at the age of four when she first saw The Wizard of Oz at a screening at Arizona State University. Years later, she graduated from A.S.U. as an English major, History minor, Whovian, and Trekkie. Now a Florida transplant, she loves the opportunity Sci-Fi Pulse has given her to further explore space travel, time travel, masked heroes, gothic castles, and good yarns.
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