The Detective and the Time Lord

Every now and again you find hidden gems whilst trawling the darker reaches of the internet. This week it was Doctor Who: Dark Journey, a Canadian fan made audio adventure produced by AM Audio Media, featuring Doctor Who (of course) and Sherlock Holmes. 

Here's the blurb, courtesy of AM Audio Media's website:

Doctor Who: Dark Journey is an original full cast audio adventure which takes The Doctor on a darker journey than ever. Emotionally shattered after a tragedy The Doctor arrives in London and becomes companion to Sherlock Holmes in an effort to stop Jack the Ripper’s murderous trail of terror. But is there an even greater evil at work in Victorian England? 

Cast:

The Doctor - Andrew Chalmers

Sherlock Holmes - Roy Miranda

Emily Hudson - Kate Elyse Forrest

Cassandra - Larissa Benfey

Inspector Gull - Rikki Wright

Sergeant Pike - Ben Clifford

Pub Thug -​ Atweh Atweh

Holmes lady friend -​ Adrienne Fish

Reporter 1 - Anthony Anderson 

Production Team:

Director - MA Tamburro

Writer - Andrew Chalmers

Sound Design - Clayton Turner

Music - Traffic Experiment

Original Doctor Who theme - Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire

Logo Design - Midnight Media RD Shaw

Album Cover Art - Vortex Visuals Dave Ladkin

Producer - AM Audio Media

June 2014

Dark Journey is a multi-episode series written, performed and produced in Toronto with a Canadian and international cast and crew featuring the music of Doctor Who fan favourite Traffic Experiment.

With Doctor Who - Dark Journey, AM Audio Media has twisted the ‘Whoniverse’ of Doctor Who in a subtle way, making it a little darker, but without losing the essence of what makes the show as brilliant as it is. Dark Journey tells the story of a new Doctor, on his last life, haunted after a mysterious tragedy but still very much ‘The Doctor’ that fans around the world have enjoyed through his adventures on television, books and audio.

AM Audio Media has emphasized intriguing elements of the show’s mythology and run with them. It’s a version that you would probably never see on TV but can exist, quite happily, as a standalone, alternate version.

Dark Journey has found an audience who like their ‘Who’ a little darker. With this extremely positive fan response AM Audio Media is currently in production of further adventures of The Dark Journey Doctor.

Doctor Who Copyright © BBC. No infringement of that or any other copyright is intended. Doctor Who: Dark Journey is a non-profit, unofficial, fan production.

Ray Miranda (Sherlock Holmes) and Andrew Chalmers (Doctor Who)

Don't be put off by the term 'fan made'. These adventures have a high production value about them (one that matches that of Big Finish), the acting is very good and the storyline flows along very nicely.

I'm not normally a lover of crossover stories but this one had me from the very start. So much so that I can't wait to hear the next series (which is currently in post-production).

Doctor Who: Dark Journey is a five part adventure (running a shade under an hour in total) which you can listen to for free here.

Remembering Peter O'Toole

A year ago today we lost one of the finest actors ever to grace the silver screen, namely Peter O'Toole. Of course Peter is best remembered for playing the part of T.E. Lawrence in David Lean's classic Lawrence of Arabia, a role that catapulted him into the public eye, earning him a Bafta and a Golden Globe award in the process.

In a career that spanned seven decades it is natural to assume that he would have been in something Holmes related at some point or other. Thankfully he was.
In 1976 Peter donned the famous deerstalker hat and Inverness cape in Peter King's theatrical production Dead Eyed Dicks, a three-act play where he played no less than three famous sleuths (Lord Peter Wimsey, Sherlock Holmes and Philip Marlowe).

In 1983 Peter lent his voice to animated adaptations of four Sherlock Holmes stories. These being A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Valley of Fear and The Hound of the Baskervilles (retitled as The Baskerville Curse). 

And finally he got to play the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1997 film Fairytale: A True Story which focused on Conan Doyle and the Cottingley Fairies hoax.

O'Toole as ACD, alongside Harvey Keitel as Harry Houdini

R.I.P. Peter (you are sorely missed).