As a lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan I was delighted to experience an intelligent, brave and humane Dr Watson (Michael Williams)who "argues" with Holmes, showing himself to be a worthy companion and not just a sychophantic "yes man" AND a Sherlock Holmes (Clive Merrison) with all of the well known peccadilloes but also a sense of humour,humanity and human frailty. The pace of the story never falters and this production of the first Sherlock Holmes adventure kept my attention from beginning to end. It is a superb introduction to new fans and should not disappoint long term Sherlock Holmes "die-hards" like myself.It certainly left me determined to accumulate the full set of these BBC Radio dramatisations of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories.