The Baker Street Boys is a British television series made by the BBC and first shown in 1983. The series recounts the adventures of a gang of street urchins living in Victorian London who assist the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes in solving crimes and find themselves tackling cases of their own.

Production

Anthony Read planned out the show's format. Read had previously been a script editor and writer on the 1965 Sherlock Holmes series starring Douglas Wilmer. He claimed to have long wondered what the Irregulars got up to when not in the service of Sherlock Holmes and the series deals with this subject. Although Holmes was always absent (explained on-screen by his being too busy working on another case, being held captive by Professor Moriarty, or confined to bed by illness), Dr. Watson was always around to assist the Irregulars when necessary. Holmes was only ever seen obliquely (Roger Ostime provided the character's voice) while Dr. Watson, Inspector Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson all featured more prominently. The part of Professor Moriarty was portrayed by Colin Jeavons, who would later go on to play Inspector Lestrade in the acclaimed Granada adaptation.

Cast

Starring

Recurring

Episodes

Eight episodes were broadcast:

VHS release

In 1985, the BBC released 4 episodes from the series on VHS video. They were edited into two 48-minute-long episodes. The two stories featured were "The Adventure of the Disappearing Dispatch Case" (from Episodes 1 and 2) and "The Adventure of the Winged Scarab" (from Episodes 5 and 6).

Books

Seven books based on the TV series have been published to date: