The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Carbuncle - John Gielgud & Ralph Richardson 

Listening to this is a Christmas Eve tradition for me. Gielgud and Richardson do justice to Doyle’s story better than any other rendition and that it was recorded and preserved so clearly is astonishing.

Those who have played Sherlock Holmes since 1893: Charles Brookfield - 1893 William Gillette - 1899-1930 - 1300 Performances over 30 yrs. Sherlock Holmes movie Baffled - 1900 Silent/Short - Max Goldberg John F. Preston - 1900 Charles Rice - 1904 Karoly Baumann - 1905 Maurice Costello - 1905 Viggo Larsen - 1908 Alwin NeuB - 1908, 1911, 1914 Otto Lagoni - 1910 Holger Rasmussen - 1911 Mack Sennett - 1911-1912 George Treville - 1912 Harry Benham - 1913 James Bragington - 1914 Francis Ford - 1914 H.A. Saintbury - 1916 Hugo Fink - 1917 Sam Robinson - 1918 Eille Norwood - 1921 Silent short movie - The Dying Detective Burt Lytell - 1921 Dennis Neillson-Terry - 1921 John Barrymore - 1922 Hamilton Deane - 1923-1932 Tod Slaughter - 1928, 1930 Richard Gordon - 1930-1933, 1936 Clive Brook - 1929/1930/1932 Arthur Wontner - 1931- 1937 - Movie Series Raymond Massey - 1931 Robert Rendel - 1932 Reginald Owen - 1933 Felix Alymer - 1933 Louis Hector - 1934-1935, 1937 Bruno Guttner - 1937, 1939, 1942-1943 Orson Welles - 1938 Basil Rathbone - 1939-1946 Cedric Hardwick - 1945 Tom Conway - 1947 Howard Marion-Crawford - 1948 John Stanley - 1948-1949 Alan Napier - 1949 John Longden - 1951 Laidman Browne - 1951 Carleton Hobbs - 1952-1969 Ronald Howard - 1954 (39 episodes) Sir John Gielgud - 1954-1955 Peter Cushing - 1959, 1968, 1984 Christopher Lee - 1962, 1970, 1992 Douglas Wilmer - 1964 John Neville - 1965, 1970, 1978 Robert Stephens - 1970 Stewart Granger - 1972 John Cleese - 1973 Larry Hagman - 1974 Robert Powell - 1974 Rolf Becker - 1974 John Wood - 1974-1975 Leonard Nimoy - 1976 Kevin McCarthy - 1977 Roger Moore - 1976 Nicol Williamson - 1976 Christopher Plummer - 1977 Peter Cook - 1977 Paxton Whitehead - 1978 Geoffrey Whitehead - 1979-1980 Keith Mitchell - 1979 Charlton Heston - 1980 Frank Langella - 1980 Vasily Livanov - Russian TV - 1979-1981, 1983 & 1986 John Moffatt - 1981 Guy Henry - 1982 Tom Baker - 1982 Ian Richardson - 1983 Peter O’Toole - 1983 (animated TV films - Australian) Jeremy Brett - 1984-1994 Nicholas Rowe - 1984 Guy Rolfe - 1984 Dinsdale Landen - 1987 Tim Pigott-Smith - 1987 Anthony Higgins - 1987 Michael Pennington - 1987 Roger Rees - 1988 Ron Moody - 1988-1989 Clive Merrison - 1989-1998, 2002, 2004, 2008-2010 Edward Woodward - 1990 Simon Callow - 1990 Richard E. Grant 1992 Robert Powell - 1993 Patrick McNee - 1993 Anthony Higgins - 1993 1998-2019: John Gilbert - Episodes 1-18 Lawrence Albert - Episode 20 John Patrick Lowrie - Episodes 21-65 & 67-until Dennis Bateman - Episode 66 Matt Frewer - 2000-2001 Joaquim de Almeida - 2001 Richard Roxburgh - 2002 James D’Arcy - 2002 Andrew Sachs - 2004 Rupert Everett - 2004 Jonathan Pryce - 2007 Javier Marzan - 2007 Roger Llewellyn - 2009 Ben Syder - 2010 Nicholas Briggs - 2010-2018 Johnny Lee Miller - 2012-2019 Benjamin Lawlor - 2013 Igor Petrenko - Russian TV Series - 2013 Robert Downey Jr. 2009 & 2011 Benedict Cumberbatch - 2010-2016 Nicholas Briggs - 2010-2018 Christian Rode - 2010, 2014 Seamus Dever - 2014 Ian McKellen - 2015 Euan Morton - 2015 Gregory Wooddell - 2015 Paul Andrew Goldsmith - 2015-2016 Ewen Bremner - 2016 Jay Taylor - 2017-2018 Yuko Takeuchi - 2018 (HBO Asia - female ‘Holmes’) Orlando Wells - 2018 Samuel Tady - 2011, 2014, 2017-2018 (Tady Bros. Productions/on YTube) Johnny Depp - 2018 (animation) Will Ferrell - 2018 Nicholas Boulton - 2020 Henry Cavill - 2020 Ethan Bell - 2020 (Fan Film on RU-vid) Ethan Thomas Jung - 2020 Fan Adv. (Vagabond Repertory Theater Company-RU-vid) This list is not exhaustive. however, these are some of the many actors who have played Sherlock Holmes on stage, screen, radio and TV adaptations.

I love this episode. Absolutely love it. When I introduced my husband to it he loved all my Sherlock Holmes cd’s. Got all of these stories and tend to relax to them easily. Their voices are soothing and monotone enough to fall asleep easily too. At least to me.

Wonderful, and a lovely clear recording as well. Gielgud and Richardson bring such warmth to the roles. The supporting cast is excellent also.

Here's to your health my friend with raised glass.

These Gielgud and Richardson interpretations are the best. Conan Doyle never intended the pair to be depicted as extreme charracatures .... Dr Watson as an idiot as he is in most of the other versions or Holmes as an insufferable eccentric.

Cheers for the best of the best!

It's rare to see Holmes and Watson upstaged but it anyone can do it it's Gielgud and Richardson. Wonderful interpretation of one of my favorites of the stories. Thanks for uploading it.

Great favorite of mine. My husband and I have been listening to this every Christmas Eve for decades. Started with a LP record album, then had it on a tape, and now the internet. Thanks for uploading this!

There have been so many versions of this and I have listened/watched most of them. This does stand up to the best of them. Thank you Roman.

And a cruel thing to do to that bird,think when ever you eat chicken, they cut there beaks off entirely and stuff them into a cage when there alive!

Very good although I think the Jeremy Brett version is a little better.

The masters at work.

A favorite. Thanks very much for sharing this.

7:10 HE SAYS THE LINE

Sublime.

Superb !

I listen to it every nite pity there is not 364 stories I would take Christmas nite off

Richardson-English as it should be spoken...if only

Classic Holmes 😅

Easily the best rendition of this great Christmas Sherlock Holmes story. Thank you fo the post.

What song is being played at the opening?

❤️