The Original Baker Street Babes, Part 3
Original Baker Street Babes
Female Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson Performers
by
Howard Ostrom
Part Three (2000 – 2014) Stage, Film, Radio, TV & Internet
Part three adds female Holmes & Watson performers from the newest media, that of internet videos, while continuing the exploration of stage, film. radio and TV.
2000 – Chantal Strand, (1987 – ) in “Dragon Tales”, a Can-American animated pre-school children’s TV series, voiced Cassie the soft spoken pink female dragon who wore a deerstalker and carried a magnifying glass in it’s “Lights, Cameras, Dragons” episode (2000).
2001 – Sheila McCarthy, (1956 – ) a Canadian actress, voiced Elizabeth the Emotional Pig, in Sherlockian gab, in the episode “Marvin and Eddie in the Middle of Nowhere”, from the Canadian anime series “Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse “.
2001 – Danielle DeCarlo played Sherlock Holmes in “The Sign of Four” at the Onstage Playhouse in Chula Vista, Ca. on September 7th, 2001.
2002 – Debi Derryberry, (1967 – ) was the voice of Jimmy Neutron in “The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius”, an American computer animated television series. Jimmy wore Sherlockian gab in the episode “Crime Sheen Investigation”.
2004 – Yeardley Smith (1964 – ) & Nancy Cartwright (1957 – ), do the Holmes and Watson in an episode of the animated series “The Simpsons”, ‘Treehouse of Horror XV’, the fifteenth Halloween episode, airing November 7, 2004, one week after Halloween in the US, which contains 3 parody/fantasy segments, with one taking place in 1890. Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) is Eliza Simpson, female Holmes type character in Deerstalker and cape and Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright) is her stupid assistant Dr Bartley.
2006-11 – “Young Miss Holmes, also known in its original country of Japan as Christie High Tension, is a manga series by artist Kaoru Shinitani, published in the monthly manga magazine, Comic Flapper (2006-11). A sequel series titled Christie London Massive is currently being published in the same magazine. The story follows Lady Crystal Margaret Hope, better known as “Christie”, who, on top of an incredible university-level education at only age ten, has the very
unique ability to perceive obscure information by simple observation and logically deduce all manner of conclusions, which are almost always correct. Inspired by her uncle, Sherlock Holmes, and with no parents in the country to dissuade her, Christie uses her mind and skills to solve the myriad of mysteries she encounters in Victorian London.” (Contributed by Ken Arromdee.)
2006 – Lis Sah Stuart played Shirley Holmes in “Shirley Holmes & The Body in B Ward”. Wellworld Hospital has merged with a giant pharmaceutical company and a patient has disappeared. Boundaries at the hospital are disappearing too – between staff and patient, reality and fantasy, real life and theatre. When private eye Shirley Holmes is invited in to crack the case she runs into a very different kind of Murder Mystery Weekend, a gallery of fragile, funny and fabulous characters, and a lot more trouble than she could ever have expected ….
2007 – Lucie Morin, played Sherlock Holmes, with Elena Shilova as Marry Watson, in the French Play “Sherlock Holmes et la Poudre aux Yeux”, or “Sherlock Holmes and the Smokescreen”. “Written and directed by Elsa Royer, the play took place in the middle of the spectators. The scene was a path of sand lighted with lanterns. The plot is a mix between The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, The Sign of Four and A Scandal in Bohemia. In this play, Sherlock Holmes is in fact Irene Adler disguised as the detective.”
2007-08 – Tannis Kowalchuk plays an accordion-playing trans-gender Dr. Watson “The Uncanny Appearance of Sherlock Holmes”… “a carnival-style crime investigation filled with live original rock music, high-energy acrobatics, slapstick comedy antics, cross-dressing, and twentieth century philosophy. The play follows the world-famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, as he investigates the bizarre murders of Dr. Jeremy Nietzsche and Dr. Kevin Freud. To complicate matters, Holmes becomes embroiled in a competition of wits against a formidable female detective, Jacqueline Derrida. As the investigation progresses, the case begins to unravel, and so does the very fabric of Holmes’s hyper-rational reality.”
2008 – India Ennenga, (1994 – ) an American actress, was the voice of Pinky in the Can-American animated television series “Pinky Dinky Doo”. In the episode “Pinky Squeaks” (2008), Pinky dressed in Sherlock gab with some very colorful socks!
2009 – Suzuko Mimori (1986 – ) is a Japanese voice actress and singer who is best known as the voice of Sherlock Shellingford in Japan’s “Tantei Opera Milky Holmes” (2009) animated series. “Tantei Opera Milky Holmes” is a media franchise owned by the Japanese trading card game company Bushiroad. The series is a homage to the detective fiction genre, and the four female leads are named after famous fictional detectives: Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe, Hercule Poirot and Cordelia Gray.” One episode I watched they ended up in the Sherlock Holmes Museum, and performed a tribute to Irene Adler
Now there is a live performing version of the animated series. Check it out on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvClL-uOvJE
Or check out one of the animated series at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G8iOGpRf84
2009 – Millie Tigwell and Laura Aitken played Young Sherlock Holmes, ace detective and Velma Whitsun, Sherlock’s assistant, in the play “Young Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Dick Whittington’s Cat” at McLaren Hall, Killin -15th, 16th and 17th January 2009.
2009 – Ashley Tisdale (1985 – ), voices Candance, in Sherlockian garb, with Kelly Hu (1968 – ) voicing Stacy, in Watson’s role, for Walt Disney TV’s “Phineas and Ferb” cartoon show. The episode was titled “Elementary, My Dear Stacy”.
2009 – Cayley McKnight played Watson, to Tyler Groenewegen’s Sherlock Holmes, in “Sherlock Holmes: The Musical”, at the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival. Singing wasn’t the only thing unusual about this tale of Sherlock Homes. It also was modernized and localized for an Edmonton audience.”We wanted to really challenge the youth and give them a show that has a little bit of everything (comedy, romance, horror aspects and high stakes drama),” Sloan said of the reason for selecting Sherlock Holmes: The Musical.
The latest trend in media is now video through the Internet. Daily it seems, new videos appear on such sites as Youtube, Vimeo, et. al. Next, I will give you a sampling of some of the recent female Holmes and Watson performers I’ve come across on these various sites. “No Place Like Holmes” (NPLH) ( http://www.nplh.co.uk/ ) is a web drama comedy show that is based upon Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes” series. Ross K. Foad plays Sherlock Holmes and Mike Archer plays Dr. Watson. However, one cannot help but to notice its outstanding core cast of female Sherlockian actresses.
“The Women of The Mary Morstan Mysteries”
2010-Pres. – Lexi Wolfe stars as Mary Watson nee Morstan in “The No Place Like Holmes” comedy drama web series “The Mary Morstan Mysteries”. The mini-series follows the tales of the rarely mentioned fiancee and later wife of Dr Watson – Miss Mary Morstan and the exploits , adventures and mystery’s she finds herself embroiled in along the way. Holmes once remarked of her character that she would have made quite the detective herself… though also noting that “marriage would of course ruin this”, but that does not mean the quick witted courageous and thoughtful Miss Morstan couldn’t stand her own when it comes to a Mystery.
2010-Pres. – Kelsey Williams as Madeline Chambers is a cold hearted Jewel and Antiques dealer with a passion for crime on the side.
2010-Pres. – Angela Holmes as Rebecca Constance a highly educated, devious, seductress and Madeline’s 2nd in Command.
2010-Pres. – Tamzin Dunstone as Miss Christine Blake is the equivalent of the modern day “Mrs. Hudson”. She attends to Mr.Holmes homely affairs as his housekeeper and occasionally assists in cases.
2010-Pres. – Linda-Jean Barry as Mrs Hudson was the ever faithful landlady to Mr Holmes and Dr Watson when they stayed in 221b Baker Street. In No Place Like Holmes she remains a distinctive memory when Holmes and Watson are warped to the post millennium but is a prominent character in the spin off Victorian set days “The Mary Morstan Mysteries”.
View “The Mary Morstan Mysteries” episode ‘Wheres, Wheres, Watson’ at:
http://www.nplh.co.uk/wheres-wheres-watson.html
Check out the Diogenes Documentary videos at: http://www.nplh.co.uk/the-diogenes-documentaries-the-original-baker-street-babes.html
2010-Pres. – Samantha Rea, although not a Holmes or Watson, up and coming actress Samantha Rea has completed a rare Sherlockian triple. After appearing as an extra in the London filming of “Elementary”, then portraying the role of Michelle Rivers, Miss Blake’s BFF in “Dawn of the Red”, in the No Place Like Holmes Sherlock Holmes web video, she was booked, and has now now completed filming in BBC’s “Sherlock” S3E3. Way to go Samantha!
See Samantha Rea in the hilarious No Place Like Holmes’ “Dawn of the Red” at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsQH2zLBKBc
2010 – Migraine Sky and Tatiana Druzhinina (Blue Larch) demonstrate a bit of Sherlock cosplay in the short video they call “Holmes/Watson goes female”
As they put it, short but sweet – love to see more of these, see it at:
2010 – Emmie Atwood, Emmie and Marco dress as Sherlock Holmes for the “Who Wants to Trade for Some Old Tracks?” episode of the PBS children’s television show Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman. “Someone has just stolen Ruff’s garden gnome and he’s determined to get it back!… Ruff sends Emmie and Marco to the Amherst College Museum of Natural History to analyze the footprints left behind by the perpetrator who stole the garden gnome…”
2010 – Karen Ellery performed as Sherlock Holmes in “The Case of Professor Moriarty and the Diamond Jubilee”. Performed by the Red Throated League at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting Saturday, April 10, 2010.
2011 – Natalie Sacket played Shelia Holmes in “Sheila Holmes, Kid Detective: The Case of the Missing iPad”.“Most everyone has heard of Sherlock Holmes, but this year Northwestern Oklahoma State University’s theatre program unveils Sheila Holmes in ‘Sheila Holmes, Kid Detective: The Case of the Missing iPad’ in the annual children’s production in Herod Hall Auditorium. Sheila Holmes, her friends and trusty dog Waffles are in search of her brother’s missing iPad only to find that there are numerous iPads popping up and three possible culprits for the disappearance. The play is written by Northwestern alumna Ashlynn Walker.”
2011 – Sarah Jackson played Summer Holmes in Season 1, Episode 2: Strade and Holmes: “Holmes to Rent” for Don’t Close Your Eyes Live Radio Theatre. “In a time when the law would not allow women to become detectives, Summer Holmes applies as secretary to Boston’s least-successful Private Eye: Gulliver Strade. When his father was murdered by a notorious crime family, Strade quit his promising legal career and hung out his shingle as a detective. Now all he needs is his first client… Coincidentally enough, that very day Amanda Neeley hires them to track down her brother — who got on a plane to London and vanished before it arrived! It’s mystery and humor in a Sherlockian vein as Strade and Holmes work to unravel a twisted plot!”
Listen to Sarah as Summer Holmes at:
https://player.fm/series/dont-close-your-eyes-live-radio-theatre/strade-and-holmes-holmes-to-rent
2011-14 – Bang Jineui, Meungeun Jung, and Youngsook Shin were all Jane Watsons on the South Korean Stage before Lucy Liu was Jane Watson in “Elementary”. Youngsook Shin seems to have been the most successful of the
Jane Watsons but she only joined at Encore stage so the first Watson in South Korea was TWO WOMEN: giving slight precedence to Bang Jineui over Meungeun Jung as Bang was in both versions of the “Sherlock Holmes: Secret of the Anderson Family” musical (2011 – 2014).
See clips of “Sherlock Holmes: Secret of the Anderson Family”
2012 – Jamie Lin performed as Dr. Watson with her husband Erik J. Pratt playing Sherlock Holmes in “No Schick, Sherlock: The Case of the Slashing Razor” as a part of Upstage Productions Inter-active Murder Mysteries Series of plays.
2012, 2015 – Shari Prestwood and Nicole Schlaudecker played Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson for the Commedia del Arte of Mobile in “Sherlock Holmes and the Haunted Theatre” (2012) and in “Sherlock Holmes and the Gypsy Curse” (2015)
2012-Pres. – Lucy Liu (1968 – ), stars as Dr. Joan Watson, with Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes, in the TV series “Elementary” (2012). This series is based on a modern day Holmes being a recovering drug addict. He travels to New York City to check into a rehabilitation center, then lives with Watson, who becomes his sober companion, and eventually his apprentice.
You can watch episodes of “Elementary”, with Lucy Liu, at:
http://www.cbs.com/shows/elementary/
2013 – Lydia King played Dr. Watson, to Alex Cummings Sherlock Holmes, in “The Hound of the Baskervilles” in the Questors Theatre, Ealing, U.K. (2013)
2013 – Sarah Heard was Sheerluck Holmes, in the parody “Sheerluck Holmes”, performed at the Calvery Christian Center, near Brisbane, Australia. (2013).
2013 – Jaspar Mitchell, plays Sherlock Holmes, with J. P. Beaudoin, as Dr. Watson in “221B – The Web Series” (2013). This web-series is a creation of Carter DeLaat, a recent film student graduate from Humber College. While only being a five episode series, it is still important, as
an early part of the new growing craze of Holmes web adaptions, initiated by Ross K. Foad with his ‘No Place Like Holmes Players‘ adaptions: http://nplh.co.uk/ . In Jaspar’s performance there’s much promise and she compares
well with Ekaterina Vasilyeva’s creation. Jaspar Mitchell is quite a fetching Holmes.
You can follow DeLaat’s Holmes web-series which at: http://221b.ca/
2013 – Hyena Sloth as Sherlock Holmes and Sam Hawkeye, as Joan Watson, ask the question, what if Holmes and Watson were both women? They made two short videos to show you their answer.
Ms Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock Opening… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI6-c9z1oKg&feature
Ms Sherlock Holmes – When Sherlock gets bored… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ5-Xj31A70
Ms Sherlock Holmes – Christmas Drinkies… www.youtube.com/watch?v=nujbbtCNYdE
2013 – Sue Perkins (1969 – ), imitates BBC Sherlock in the new BBC series “Heading Out”.
2013 – Julia Yuzhnaya (Юлия Южная) as Sherlock Holmes and Anastasia Poluyan (Анастасия Полуян) as Dr. Watson in “Шерлок Холмс” (Sherlock Holmes) in a Russian ballet.
View the Russian Ballet “Sherlock Holmes” at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jDmNas_nsQ
2013 – Alisa Tumanova is perhaps the cutest Sherlock Holmes you will ever see. In what appears to be a Russian talent show, Alisa dressed as Holmes, also sings what sounds like a Sherlock Holmes song.
You can view Alisa on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ayVjuLouM
2013 – Rebecca Van Tassel really puts the burlesque into burlesque, as Sherlock Holmes, in her video “Elementary My Dear Watson”. Enough said on this one, viewer beware.
See Van Tassel’s Holmes at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r96-A-Hfpyw
2013 – Molly Metaphora and Liru-chan play Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in “In Hot Pursuit” (По горячим следам). “A short fan film based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories of Sherlock Holmes and Lolita fashion. Gender swap included. Why not?” “What if the most famous detective was a woman? What if her companion was a sister of mercy in Afghan war? What if the most dangerous criminal in London was the first female professor in British hystory? All the answers in our new short film inspired by sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories and lolita fashon. Premiere: at Gothic and Lolita festival, Moscow.”
2013-14 – Fanny Richert is a French actress who played Herlock Sholmès in Paris in the play “Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès”.
2013 – Sarah Hathaway plays Jennie Watson, left, and Leilani Toone is Shirley Holmes in “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” “In this new version of the story, the estimable Holmes and his able assistant, Dr. John Watson, are nowhere to be found, and their nieces take their places in solving the mystery. Watson’s niece, Jennie, runs the investigation, while Holmes’ niece, Shirley, provides advice and counsel, and of course, wraps up the mystery with a tidy explanation at the end. Jennie and Shirley are chips off the old blocks. While Shirley, played by Leilani Toone, is taciturn and methodical like her famous uncle, Jennie, played by Sarah Hathaway, is nothing like the austere Dr. Watson. Jennie, who also serves as the narrator, is chipper and enthusiastic about everything she does.”
2013-14 – Sarah Pelosi played Shirley Holmes in“Horrible Christmas” at Derby Theatre (in conjunction with Birmingham Stage Company). “Horrible Christmas’ is a magical and wondrous story featuring time travel, a villainous Santa character, a little boy called Watson and Shirley Holmes the detective. Bad Sidney Claus hates Christmas and delights in stealing children’s presents aided and abetted by a prancing and silly Rudolf the reindeer. Enter Shirley Holmes time traveling detective with her time traveling tricycle and off they go back in time to visit the Tudor court of Henry the Eighth and his new wife Katherine, the fun canceling world of Oliver Cromwell, the song and camper of Charles II and to London in 1843 to help Charles Dickens out of his writer’s block and create a timeless ghost story about a man called Scrooge. Will Holmes and Watson stop Sidney Claus and Rudolph from ruining hundreds of years of Christmas celebrations and festive joy? Sarah Pelosi plays Holmes with great panache and energy and much fun is had as the tricycle flies across the back of the stage in hot pursuit of the dastardly Sidney and Rudolf on their own time traveling contraption.
2014 – Li Yiyi (李依伊), Imagine your girlfriend is Sherlock Holmes. How can you surprise her? Watson and Lady Sherlock Holmes fall in love … in a New Balance Chinese Advertisement (2014). Watson is played by Zhang Xiaohan (张骁晗) and Sherlock is played by Li Yiyi (李依伊)
You can watch this really cute new Balance Ad at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYjuqg-CwFg
2014 – Shelby Kirby, plays a female Sherlock Holmes, with Ronald Chavis, as Dr. Watson, in Loyola University’s ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ production, in Marquette Theatre uptown. (2014). “The biggest surprise of the night, however, came not from the plot, but from an unexpected source: the lead actor—or rather actress. Sherlock Holmes was a female. Adapted from the original by Tim Kelly and directed by Janet Shea, this particular version of “Hound of the Baskervilles” has generated buzz because of its non-traditional casting. While in the process of casting the play, director Janet Shea ran into a conundrum that many involved in college and high school theatre productions face—there were simply not enough men available to fill the story’s male roles…. A diminutive, blonde pixie of a girl re-entered the room,” writes Shea. She goes on to say that “[Kirby’s] courage was remarkable. She had paired herself with a tall, handsome African-American male as Watson. The more they read, the more I thought “yes” — and there it was.”… Kirby got the part, and Shea decided to re-write Sherlock’s character as a female role.Both Kirby and Shea agreed that the theatre industry currently lacks enough real diversity, but the situation is improving. “People are getting more and more accepting,” Shea said.”
2014-15 – Erika Poole played Shirley Holmes replacing last years Shirley, Sarah Pelosi, as for the second straight season the Birmingham Stage Company presented “Horrible Christmas”. Sydney Clause versus Shirley Holmes, will Holmes save Christmas?
End Part Three 2000 – 2014
See Part Four for 2014 (cont.) – Present (6/30/2016)
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