John Michael Drinkrow Hardwick (10 September 1924 − 4 March 1991), known as Michael Hardwick, was an English author who was best known for writing books and radio plays which featured

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

's creation

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

. He adapted most of the episodes of the Sherlock Holmes BBC radio series 1952–1969.

Personal life

Hardwick was born on 10 September 1924 in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, Yorkshire and married fellow author Mollie Hardwick in 1961. Together they co-wrote numerous different books, not just on the subject of Sherlock Holmes, but also

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope ( ; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among the best-known of his 47 novels are two series of six novels each collectively known as the ''Chronicles of Barsetshire ...

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

and other giants of the literary landscape. Between them they also produced

novelisations A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative work, derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, Play (theatre), stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particul ...

from successful television series such as Upstairs, Downstairs, The Cedar Tree, Bergerac,

The Chinese Detective ''The Chinese Detective'' is a British television police procedural drama series, first transmitted by the BBC between 1981 and 1982. The series was created by Ian Kennedy Martin, who had previously devised '' The Sweeney'' and ''Juliet Bravo' ...

and Tenko.

Sherlock Holmes

Hardwick penned a dramatisation of " The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" for the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

in 1959, which starred

Carleton Hobbs Carleton Percy Hobbs, OBE (18 June 1898 – 31 July 1978) was an English actor with many film, radio and television appearances. He portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 80 radio adaptations in a series of a series of Sherlock Holmes radio dramas (opp ...

as Sherlock Holmes and

Norman Shelley Norman Shelley (16 February 1903 – 21 August 1980) was a British actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC's ''Children's Hour''. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera ''Th ...

as Doctor Watson. With his wife he wrote a 1963 radio play ''The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes''. In 1968, they dramatized '' The Adventure of the Dancing Men'' and ''

The Sign of the Four ''The Sign of the Four'', also called ''The Sign of Four'', is an 1890 detective novel, and it is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring ...

'' for the BBC's television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, starring

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition f ...

as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson, but only the latter exists in the BBC's archives. The two also authored a novelization of

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and ver ...

's film, '' The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes''. Some of Hardwick's adaptions for Hobbs and Shelley were translated into German and broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk in the 1960s starring Peter Pasetti as Holmes and various actors as Watson. In 1979, Hardwick wrote '' The Prisoner of the Devil'' which features Holmes called in to solve the case of the Dreyfus affair. The 1980s brought Hardwick's sequel to ''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four Detective fiction, crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serial (literature), serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from ...

'', entitled '' The Revenge of the Hound'' published by

Villard Books Villard, also known as Villard Books, is a publishing imprint of Random House, one of the largest publishing companies in the world, owned in full by Bertelsmann since its acquisition of a final 25% stake in 2019, and grouped in Penguin Random ...

, as well as ''The Private Life of Dr. Watson'' and ''Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes''.

List of works

Fiction

*''Sherlock Holmes Investigates'' (1963); with Mollie Hardwick, editors – selected from Conan Doyle's original stories & introduced for new readers *''Four Sherlock Holmes Plays: One-Act Plays'' (1964); with Mollie Hardwick *''The Game's Afoot: Sherlock Holmes Plays'' (1969); with Mollie Hardwick *''The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'' (1970); with Mollie Hardwick – from the original screenplay by

and I. A. L. Diamond *''The Pallisers'' (1973); introduction – abridged omnibus edition of Anthony Trollope's series of six novels *''Mr. Hudson's Diary – Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1973) *''Mr. Bellamy's Story – Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1974) *'' The Inheritors'' (1974) *''On With the Dance – Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1975) *''Endings and Beginnings – Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1975) *''The Upstairs Downstairs Omnibus'' (1975); with Mollie Hardwick *'' The Four Musketeers (The Revenge of Milady)'' (1975) *''The Gaslight Boy'' (1976); with Mollie Hardwick *'' The Cedar Tree – vol. 1'' (1976) *''Autumn of an Age – The Cedar Tree, vol. 2'' (1977) *''A Bough Breaks – The Cedar Tree, vol. 3'' (1978) *''Regency Royal'' (1978) *'' The Prisoner of the Devil'' (1979) *''Regency Rake'' (1979) *''Regency Revenge'' (1980) *''

'' (1981) *'' Bergerac. The Jersey Cop'' (1981) *'' The Barchester Chronicles'' (1982); editor – abridged omnibus edition of Trollope's series & based on the

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

*''The Private Life of Doctor Watson: Being the Personal Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.'' (1983) *''Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes'' (1984) *''Last Tenko'' (1984) *'' The Revenge of the Hound'' (1987) *''Nightbone'' (1989)

Non-fiction

*''Emigrant in Motley: The Journey of

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Ellen Kean in Quest of a Theatrical Fortune in Australia and America, as told in their hitherto unpublished letters'' (1954); editor, with a foreword by

Anthony Quayle Sir John Anthony Quayle (7 September 1913 – 20 October 1989) was a British actor. He was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role as Thomas Wolsey in the film '' Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969). He also played impor ...

*''The Verdict of the Court'' (1960); editor, with an introduction by Lord Birkett – six famous

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

s *''The Jolly Toper: A Light-Hearted Social History of Drinking'' (1961); with Mollie Greenhalgh/Hardwick *''Doctors on Trial'' (1961) – the trials of Smethurst, Pritchard, Lamson, Crippen and Ruxton *''The Sherlock Holmes Companion'' (1962); with Mollie Hardwick *''The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes'' (1964); with Mollie Hardwick *''The Charles Dickens Companion'' (1965); with Mollie Hardwick *''The Plague and the

Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...

'' (1966); with Mollie Hardwick *''The World's Greatest Sea Mysteries'' (1967); with Mollie Hardwick *''

Alfred Deller Alfred George Deller, CBE (31 May 1912 – 16 July 1979), was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularising the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th century. He is sometimes referr ...

: A Singularity of Voice'' (1968); with Mollie Hardwick *''Writers' Houses: A Literary Journey in England'' (1968); with Mollie Hardwick – US edition: ''A Literary Journey: Visits to the Homes of Great Writers'' *''Discovery of Japan'' (1969) – Hamlyn All Colour book *''The World's Greatest Air Mysteries'' (1970) *''As They Saw Him: Charles Dickens'' (1970) – "the great novelist as seen through the eyes of his family, friends, and contemporaries" *''Dickens' England: The Places in his Life and Works'' (1970); with Mollie Hardwick *''The

Osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

Guide to

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

'' (1972) *''The Osprey Guide to

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

'' (1973) *''The Osprey Guide to

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

'' (1973) *''The Bernard Shaw Companion'' (1973); with Mollie Hardwick *''The Charles Dickens Encyclopedia'' (1973); with Mollie Hardwick *''A Literary Atlas and Gazetteer of the British Isles'' (1973) *''The Osprey Guide to Anthony Trollope'' (1974) *''The Charles Dickens Quiz Book'' (1974); with Mollie Hardwick *''Cars of the Thirties and Forties'' (1979) *''The Complete Guide to Sherlock Holmes'' (1986)

References

External links

Michael Hardwick
at GoodReads
Michael Hardwick
at Fantastic Fiction 1924 births 1991 deaths English novelists Writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiches 20th-century British writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights {{England-writer-stub