Nicholas Briggs has one of the most iconic voices on British television, with the star providing the voice for some of Doctor Who's most iconic villains, including the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Judoon and the Zygons. However, the star is now taking on a heroic role, as he's set to voice Sherlock Holmes in the upcoming audio drama, Sherlock Holmes Untold, which is being produced by Big Finish, which produces plenty of Doctor Who audio dramas. He will be joined by fellow Doctor Who audio drama actor Richard Earl, who provides the voices for several side characters; Richard will be playing Doctor Watson.
The eight-part series is set to land on 1 October, and each episode will last for 30 minutes. A description for the show promises "a cracking cast, confounding crimes and a captivating cliffhanger". Although it's lasting for eight episodes, the series will only feature six of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic stories, which were published between 1887 and 1927.
Joining Nicholas and Richard in the series are Tim Bentinck (The Archers), John Banks (Graceless), Harriet Kershaw (Fireman Sam), Aurora Dawson-Hunte (The Stranger) and Christopher Naylor (The Crown). Tim will be playing Mycroft Holmes while Harriet appears in the series as Esmerelda North. Aurora has secured the role of Gabrielle Phillimore and Christopher will be voicing Prime Minister Jasper Cranfield. Meanwhile, John has dual roles, appearing in the drama as Colonel Sebastian Moran and Inspector Lestrade.
A piece of promotional art for the series has been released showing Nicholas and Richard in their roles with an ominous black train approaching. The image features the pair on either side of the locomotive with the night sky above filled with stars while a pine forest stretches out behind them.
© Huw John/ShutterstockSpeaking about the series, the show's writer Jonathan Barnes explained: "Fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories will know that Conan Doyle absolutely sprinkles them with all of these little mentions of unchronicled cases. Sometimes stories that were incomplete or unsatisfying, sometimes stories too scandalous to be told. This whole series is about building and extrapolating from the hints that Doyle left behind, almost like breadcrumbs for us to follow."
Fan response
Fans were left intrigued by the new series, with one saying: "Really cool to see Big Finish doing weekly episodes, I wonder if the format would work with the Doctor Who releases?" while a second enthused: "WE ARE SO [expletive] BACK OH MY GOD!" and a third commented: "Really looking forward to this. Nick's Sherlock Holmes is brilliant."
© Big FinishA fourth shared: "This sounds really interesting. I might give this a go," while a fifth added: "Yes please, been ages since there was a new Sherlock Holmes." A sixth wondered whether the series would delve into the supernatural, musing: "Are two of each of those episodes, gonna be a 2-part story of him investigating monsters from classic movies? Frankenstein's monster, the mummy, and the Wolfman? We've already done Dracula and Dorian Gray."
