Michael Hardwick

Prisoner of the Devil (1979)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Hudson; Dubuque; Mycroft Holmes; Adolphe Meyer; (Mary Morstan; Dr Verner; Black Peter Carey; Stanley Hopkins; Patrick Cairns; Arthur Cadogan West; Violet Westbury; Hugo Oberstein; Colonel Valentine Walter; Sir James Walter; Watson's Father; Watson's Brother (Henry))
Historical Figures: Mathieu Dreyfus; Alfred Dreyfus; Lucie Hadamard Dreyfus; Pierre Dreyfus; Jeanne Dreyfus; Major Georges Picquart; Marquis du Paty de Clam; Armand Cochefert; Cochefert's Secretary; Felix Gribelin; Hubert-Joseph Henry; Ferdinand Forzinetti; General Darras; Sergeant of the Guard; Queen Victoria; Eusapia Palladino; Major Marie-Charles Walsin-Esterhazy / Fitzgerald; (Edgar Demange; Colonel Maurel; Raphael Dreyfus; Jeanette Dreyfus; Jacques Dreyfus; Dreyfus's Brother; Dreyfus's Sisters; Orderly; Lieutenant-General de Boisdeffre; General Mercier; Alphonse Bertillon; Kaiser Wilhem II; Abdul Karim (The Munshi); Felix de Lamothe; Edouard Drumont; Colonel Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen; Colonel Fanizzardi; Colonel Jean Conrad Sandherr; Captain Lauth; Cesare Lombroso; Sir Oliver Lodge; Bernard Lazare; General Billot; General Gonse; Anne de Nettancourt Esterhazy; Madame Bastian; Louis Leblois; Auguste Scheurer-Kestner; Emile Zola; Godefroy Cavaignac; Count Christian esterhazy; Mme de Boulancy)
Other Characters: Door Attendant; Prison Guards; Handwriting Experts; President of Court; Court Officers; Soldiers & Ex-Servicemen; Diplomats; Journalists; Court Martial Crowd; Artillerymen; Republican Guard Lieutenant; Café Patrons; Queen's Indian Attendants; McRither; Passengers; Ship's Master; Ship's Officers; British Guiana Officials; Hotel Proprietor; Albert Gonselin; Seamen; Cayenne Wharf Crowds; Convict Porter; Mme Louveque; Bar Customers; Louveque's Girls; Violinist; French Guiana Officials; Raoul; Manuel; Murderer; Millionaire Nobleman; Louveque's Waiter; Devil's Island Guards; Mycroft's Messenger; Postlethwaite; Diogenes Members; Cabby; Constable Dobson; Ambulance Attendants; Swiss Band; Tourists; Waiter; Messenger Boy; Rue Maurice Concierge; Claudine's Maid; Mademoiselle Claudine; Seamus Murphy; Sailors; Georgetown Bar Patrons; Gonselin's Lookout; Bartender; Bartenders Wife; Bar Girls; Pianist; Captain Muros; Dynamite Johnny O'Brien; French Navy Matelots; O'Brien's First Mate; Second Mate; Bosun; Hyde Park Protestors; Military College Troops; (Court Officers; Municipal Guards; Times Correspondent; Dreyfus's Maid; Italian Hairdresser; One-Eye Jules; Governor's Office Clerk; President of France; Captain Hunter; Hunter's Third Officer; Daily Chronicle Journalist; Police Surgeon; Meyer's Porter; Porter's Wife; Prison Settlement Commandants; Picquart's Staff; Medium; Holmes's Geneva University Friend; Watson's Mother; Claudine's French Visitor; Hotel Receptionist; Hotel Porter; Picquart's Messenger; New York Rescue Syndicate; German Embassy Cleaning Woman; French Dancer)
Date: 1928 / May, 1895 - December, 1896/ October, 1894 - January, 1895 / June, 1899 / 1906 / 1907
Locations: Watson's Home; 221B, Baker Street; France; Paris; 6, Avenue du Trocadero; Alma Bridge; Quai d'Orsai; Rue St-Dominique; Cherche-Midi Prison; Courtroom; War College Courtyard; Left Bank Café; Windsor Castle; A Steamer; British Guiana; Georgetown; Hotel; Ship; French Guiana; Cayenne; Mme Louveque's; A Fishing-Boat; Devil's Island; A Canoe on the Caribbean; Pall Mall; Diogenes Club; 13, Great George Street; A Train; Kent; Switzerland; Geneva; Restaurant; Le Havre; University of Geneva; Rue Maurice; Claudine's Apartment; Café Maurice; Hotel; Ratcliff Highway; Sumner Shipping Agency; Georgetown Bar; O'Brien's Ship; Hyde Park; French Embassy
Story: Mathieu Dreyfus calls on Holmes to prove his brother's innocence, but Holmes turns down the case, unwilling to interfere with the legal processes of another country. He does, however, continue to show an interest in the case, and some time later, he and Watson travel to Paris to confer with Dubuque. After solving the Bruce-Partington case, Holmes is asked by the Queen to investigate the Dreyfus affair because she has received a letter from the Kaiser accusing the British Government of engineering the affair to foment trouble between France and Germany.

Disguised as a journalist, John James, Holmes sails to Guiana, where with the aid of and ex-convict fisherman he is able to land secretly on Devil's Island and speak with Dreyfus, but finds himself adrift in the Caribbean on his escape from the Island. On his return to London, Holmes decides to use the press to renew public interest in the case, spreading the rumour that Dreyfus has escaped, utilising Adolphe Meyer as an intermediary in the spreading of the story, and the anti-semitic Libre Parole as its mouthpiece. Holmes has an angry meeting with Mycroft, and later learns that Meyer has been murdered.

A meeting with Picquart in Geneva reveals more evidence of Dreyfus's innocence. They also, at the request of Dreyfus's wife consult the medium, Palladino, who appears to make contact with the spirit of Watson's father, and refers to an officer who looks like a black vulture, and Haydn's Farewell Symphony. Watson interviews the alluring spy, Claudine. Holmes gives Picquart the name of his chief subject, but Picquart comes under political attack, and a pamphlet stirs up more outrage in Paris. Holmes puts together a crew for a rescue voyage, and sails to Guiana, where a death occurs almost as soon as they arrive, and they find themselves in the midst of a bar-room brawl.

They encounter O'Brien, leader of an American mission to rescue Dreyfus. The joint raid does not go according to plan, and a surprise awaits them in Dreyfus's hut. On his return to England, Holmes is warned off the case by, and learns the truth of it from, Mycroft.

The Private Life of Dr Watson (1983)
Story Type: Autobiography of Dr Watson
Canonical Characters: Dr. Watson; Watson's Brother (Henry Watson); Watson's Father; (John Henry Watson); Sherlock Holmes; Percy "Tadpole" Phelps; Berkshire Regiment; Murray; Stamford; (Lord Holdhurst)
Fictional Characters: William Gale; Colonel Ripon; (Angus Hudson; Donald Hudson; Captain Fletcher)
Historical Figures: Henry Ward Beecher; Eunice Beecher; George Grossmith; W.S. Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan; W.G. Grace; Sarah Bernhardt; Surgeon-Major A.F. Preston; Brigadier-General Burrows
(William Ashby; Sir Francis Walsingham; Robert E. Bonner; Howard Marsh; A.E. Cumberbatch; Edward VII; Lt-Col James Galbraith; General Sir Frederick Roberts; Ayub Khan; Shere Ali Khan; General Primrose)
Other Characters: Watson's Mother (Violet Hudson); Central Park Horse Riders; Dr Hudson; Grandmama Hudson; Flora "Florrie" Hudson; Verbena "Verbie" Hudson; Cousin Heliotrope; Percy; Miss Dobbs; Rev. P.J. Kennedy; Mrs Kennedy; City Hall Lecture Chairman; City Hall Audience; Clergymen; Bishop; Dock Painter; Asia Passengers; Mr Henderson; Asia Official; Asia Officer; Civilian; Pansy Hudson; Pansy's Mother; Plymouth Church Girl; Congregation; Band; Speakers; Aggie Brown / Lady Greene; College Boys; Sturges; Phelps's Servant; Mrs Phelps; Rugby Captain; Croydon Station Guard; Railway Officials; Pleasure Garden Bands; Couples; Bar Customers; Paddy; Frank Greene; Prostitute; University Tutors; University Students; Rugby Spectator; Rugby Official; Hooper; Chorus Girls; Old Ted; Music Hall Performers; Audience; Stage Door Johnnie; Macgregor; Sorcerer Cast; Potman; Percy Forbes; Claude; Watson's Theatre Companion; Cricketers; Australia-Bound Passengers; Shipping Company Representative's Wife; Australian Train Passengers; Ballarat Townspeople; Ballarat Hotel Waiter; Administrative Office Clerks; Pawnbroker; Mining Supplies Shopkeeper; Miners; American Miner; Chinese Miner; Dr Ramsay; Benevolent Institution Inmates; Ramsay's Irishwoman; Ballarat Parson; Sextons; Undertaker's Men; Long Jim Clucas; Coach Passengers; Waiter; Cook; Cobb & Co. Clerk; State Troopers; Mount Alexander Prisoners; Chief Jailer; Inspector; Police Officers; Lynch Mob; Reverend Mr Copperthwaite; Slameston Crew; Bo'sun; Ted; Eddie"Waves" Waveney-Waveney; Café Royal Waiter; Madame Lecoq; Paris Hotel Porter; Lavallier; Actors Bernhardt's Audience; Theatre Managers; Florence; Jacques; Crowd Outside Bernhardt's Mansion; Bernhardt's Servants; Footman; Butler; Poona Surgeon; P&O Passengers; Senior Ship's Doctor; Steward; Mr Clements; Captain; Cox & Co Assistant Manager; Mrs Capper; Cox & Co. Clerk; Prostitutes; Bar Girl; Recruiting Sergeants; Police Constable; Recruiting Interviewers; Netley Doctors; Netley Adjutant; Bombay Officials; Indian Army Officers; Indian Children; Kandahar Adjutant; Maiwand Soldiers; Ghazis; Orderlies; Native Bearers; Afghan Villagers; Medical Board President; Gladyce; Music Hall Band; Soprano; Music Hall Chairman; Paddy; Forbes's Servant; Strand Hotel Manager; Manager's Wife; Pot-boy; Criterion Doormen; Criterion Customers
(Henriques; Stranraer Porter; Watson Family's Servants; Daily Boy; Teacher; Larne Distillery Director; Drunken Hamish; Dr Grieves; Captain Buchanan; Buchanan's Wife; Buchanan's Cook; Royal Medical Benevolent College Governor; Phelps's Father; Violet's Doctor; O'Reilly; Joe Bishop; Dr Wilkinson Earl of Eppington; Lord Greene; Young Frank; Greene's Brother; Brother's Wife; Greene's Lawyer; Lawyer's Indian Clerk; Watson's Editor; Albert)
Date: September, 1588 / Spring, 1846 / 1863-1864 / 1867 / 1875-1881
Locations: Scotland; Black Head; Wigtownshire; Stranraer; New York; Central Park; Surrey; Bagshot; Glasgow; City Hall; Liverpool; Aboard the Asia; Nova Scotia; Halifax; Massachusetts; Boston; Brooklyn; Plymouth Church; Pansy's House; Hotel; 221B, Baker Street; Epsom; Royal Medical Benevolent College; Woking; Briarbrae; Croydon Station; Cremorne Pleasure Gardens; London University; Greenwich; Blackheath; Deer Park; Music Hall; Opéra Comique; Public House; Bloomsbury; South London Cricket Ground; Edinburgh; Aboard a Ship; Australia; Melbourne; A Train; Ballarat; Hotel; Pawnbrokers; The Benevolent Institution; Graveyard; Cobb & Co Booking Office; Posting Station; Mount Alexander; Bendig; Mount Alexander Jail; Melbourne Shipping Office; Aboard the Salmeston; China; Shanghai; United State of America; California; San Francisco; Tilbury; Glasshouse Street; Café Royal; France; Paris; Madame Lecoq's; Hotel; Comédie Française; Bernhardt's Mansion; India; Poona; Aboard a P&O Liner; Charing Cross; Cox & Co; Fulham; Aggie's Apartment off the King's Roa; King's Cross Station; A Train; Bar; Whitehall; Parliament Square; Recruiting Office; Hampshire; Netley; Royal Victoria Military Hospital; New Forest; Southsea; Portsmouth; Bombay; Army Medical Department; Indian Train; Sibi; Kandahar; Maiwand; Hotel off the Strand; Canterbury Music Hall; Holloway; Forbes's House; Criterion Bar
Story: Watson hears from his father of the wreck of a Spanish galleon on the Scottish coast in 1588. One of the survivors, an officer named Henriques, was their ancestor. His parents met in 1846, when his father, John Henry Watson, saved his mother, Violet Hudson, from falling in the sea at Stranraer. They married in Bagshot in 1847. Watson's brother, Henry was born in 1849, and Watson on July 7th, 1852. During Watson's childhood, his father develops a drink problem and loses his job, forcing the family to emigrate to America. Before they depart, his mother becomes enamoured of Henry Ward Beecher, whose lectures she has attended in London and Glasgow. In New York, her growing infatuation drives the family apart and Watson's father and brother leave for California. When Aunt Pansy catches Violet and Beecher together, Watson and his mother are forced to leave her home and return to live with Violet's parents in Bagshot. Watson is sent to boarding school at the Royal Medical Benevolent College in Epsom, where, with the assistance of "Tadpole" Phelps, his experience of women begins.

At University, Watson becomes interested in rugby, music-hall, and Gilbert and Sullivan. He finds himself standing in for a drunken actor at a rehearsal of The Sorcerer. Despite yearning to travel, when he learns that his mother is close to death, he decides to continue his studies at Bart's, where he plays cricket with W.G. Grace. After his mother's death, a letter arrives from his father, outlining his misfortunes in the California and Australian goldfields. Watson gets a job as a ship's surgeon and sails to Australia, finding his father's watch in a pawnshop in Ballarat, and his father on his deathbed. He travels further through the goldfields in search of his brother, experiencing a runaway stagecoach and a bush-ranger hold-up which brings him to the object of his quest, and a stay in prison.

The brothers sign aboard a ship and travel to Sydney, Shanghai, Hong Kong and San Francisco, where Henry leaves to hunt for gold. Back in England, Watson's grandfather plans for Watson to take over his practice in Bagshot. Waveney-Waveney, a rugby acquaintance takes him to Paris, where he finds himself attending to Sarah Bernhardt. He turns down his grandfather's offer and returns to sea as a P&O line ship's surgeon. Sailing out of India he meets an old acquaintance from his schooldays, and realises that he has a son. Rejected by the boy's mother, he signs up for military service, and sees action at Maiwand, before returning to London.

The Revenge of the Hound (1987)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Watson (Coral Atkins); Mrs Hudson; Inspector Lestrade; Mycroft Holmes; White Mason; Tobias Gregson; (Killer Evans; The Hound of the Baskervilles)
Historical Figures: Edward VII; (Oliver Cromwell; Henry Ireton; John Bradshaw)
Other Characters: Henrietta "Henry" Wilmington Atkins; Hotel Russell Waiters; Rugby Players; Boaters; Police Driver; Hampstead Constables; Sergeant Roberts; Chapman; Hospital Attendant; Cabby; Marble Arch Constables; Inspector Arkwright ; Workmen; Dr Garside; Lord Belmont; Arkwright's Assistants; Equerry; Deckhands; Ferry Passengers; Peter Anderson; John Sweh; Captain Bassett; Newhaven Sergeant; Victoria Station Porters; Passenger; Ticket Collector; Sailors; Cabbies; Crowd; Constables; Sergeant Clegge; Jack Robbins; William; Lavinia Glanvill; Glanvill's Maid; Edwards; Belmont's Footman; Guild Workmen; Cabby; Annie Dodds; Cemetery Attendants; Highgate Crowd; Matthew Spurrier; Belmont's Watchers; Albany Street Duty Sergeant; Police Drivers; Funeral Constables; Wardresses; Undertaker's Manager; Highgate Gateman; Gardener; Cemetery Attendants; Oliver's Men; Special Branch Men; Slav; (Inspector Blenkinsop; Hampstead Tramps; Editor; Hubert Glanvill; Mr Poole; Malay Owners of the Bar of Gold; Russian Library Patrons)
Date: 1st - ?, July, 1902
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; Russell Square; Grand Agricultural Hall, Islington; Hotel Russell; Blackheath; Regent's Park; Hampstead Heath; Heath Street; Hospital; Marble Arch; A Train; Dieppe; Cross-Channel Ferry; Buckingham Palace; Newhaven; Lewes ; A Train; Victoria Station; Canterbury; Mickleden; Alkhamton; Deal; The Vale of Health; Highgate Cemetery; Baker Street; Albany Street; Old Moore Public House; (The Bar of Gold; The Free Russian Library, Commercial Road; Shinwell Johnson's House)
Story: Watson has his proposal of marriage accepted by Coral Atkins days after being shot by Killer Evans, while Holmes announces his plan to retire, then asks him to go to Lausanne on the Carfax case. Lestrade arrives with news of an attack on a tramp on Hampstead Heath by what is being said to have been the Hound of the Baskervilles returned from the dead. They visit the Heath, hear a strange wailing, and find footprints, but Holmes loses interest after visiting the vagrant who was attacked, who later disappears. The following day Holmes summons Watson to Marble Arch, where an excavation at the site of the Tyburn gallows is uncovering the remains of those hanged there. Watson's deductions lead to the discovery of the beheaded bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw: remains which, Holmes believes, could foment revolution. Mycroft arrives at 221B to tackle Holmes over his refusal of a knighthood. Lestrade brings the news that the bones of Cromwell and his companions have been stolen.

As they return from Lausanne, Holmes tells Watson of his visit to Buckingham Palace where, in light of a planned visit to America, the King is keen to have Holmes retrieve a compromising letter from Mrs Glanvill. A Chinese steward is murdered on their ferry, but Holmes arranges with White Mason to let the murderer go free. When they arrive back in London, they find Gregson investigating the decapitation of a statue of Charles II. Holmes sends Watson to retrieve the King's letter, and Watson finds himself spending the night at Lord Belmont's country home.

He arrives back in London to be dragged back to Hampstead by Holmes, where he learns that the hound case is connected to the shipboard murder, before they visit the fair and view a body in Highgate Cemetery. Watson provides the key to linking their other cases into the picture. They take a wolf to a funeral, and attend a revolutionary gathering in a crypt before bringing all the threads together to resolve the case. Watson's fiancée reveals the contents of the King's letter.

Michael & Mollie Hardwick