# Michael Hardwick
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{{Short description|British author}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
'''John Michael Drinkrow Hardwick''' (10 September 1924 − 4 March 1991[{{cite web|last=Newley|first=Patrick|title=Mollie Hardwick|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--archive/obituaries/mollie-hardwick1|publisher=[The Stage](/source/The_Stage)|date=19 January 2004|access-date=21 November 2018}}]), known as '''Michael Hardwick''', was an English author who was best known for writing books and radio plays which featured [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle](/source/Sir_Arthur_Conan_Doyle)'s creation [Sherlock Holmes](/source/Sherlock_Holmes). He adapted most of the episodes of the Sherlock Holmes [BBC radio series](/source/Sherlock_Holmes_(1952_radio_series)) 1952–1969.[{{cite book |last=Redmond |first=Christopher |title=Sherlock Holmes Handbook: Second Edition |page=229 |publisher=Dundurn |year=2009 |isbn=9781459718982}}]
==Personal life==
Hardwick was born on 10 September 1924 in [Leeds](/source/Leeds), Yorkshire[{{cite web|title=Michael Hardwick, co-author w/ his wife Mollie, of many Sherlockian plays & books, born #OTD 1924|url=https://twitter.com/bakerstjournal/status/774658994019315712|publisher=[The Baker Street Journal](/source/The_Baker_Street_Journal) on Twitter|date=10 September 2016|access-date=21 November 2018}}] and married fellow author [Mollie Hardwick](/source/Mollie_Hardwick) in 1961.[{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09bd5bp|title=Sherlock Holmes|access-date=21 November 2018|website=BBC iPlayer Radio}}] which starred [Carleton Hobbs](/source/Carleton_Hobbs) as Sherlock Holmes and [Norman Shelley](/source/Norman_Shelley) as Doctor Watson. With his wife he wrote a 1963 radio play ''The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes''.[{{cite web
|url=https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=The_Man_Who_Was_Sherlock_Holmes_(radio_1963)|title=The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (radio 1963)|access-date=21 November 2018|website=The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia}}] In 1968, they dramatized ''[The Adventure of the Dancing Men](/source/The_Adventure_of_the_Dancing_Men)'' and ''[The Sign of the Four](/source/The_Sign_of_the_Four)'' for the BBC's [television adaptation](/source/Sherlock_Holmes_(1965_TV_series)) of Sherlock Holmes, starring [Peter Cushing](/source/Peter_Cushing) as Holmes and [Nigel Stock](/source/Nigel_Stock_(actor)) as Watson, but only the latter [exists](/source/Lost_television_broadcast) in the BBC's archives. The two also authored a novelization of [Billy Wilder](/source/Billy_Wilder)'s film, ''[The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes](/source/The_Private_Life_of_Sherlock_Holmes)''.[{{cite book|last=Hardy|first=Phil|title=The BFI Companion to Crime|page=[https://archive.org/details/bficompaniontocr0000unse/page/168 168]|year=1997|publisher=[University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press)|isbn=9780520215382|url=https://archive.org/details/bficompaniontocr0000unse/page/168}}]
Some of Hardwick's adaptions for Hobbs and Shelley were translated into German and broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk in the 1960s[{{cite web|title=Sherlock Holmes - Krimi-Hörspielklassiker nach Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|url=https://www.br.de/mediathek/podcast/sherlock-holmes-krimi-hoerspielklassiker-nach-sir-arthur-conan-doyle/882|publisher=[Bayerischer Rundfunk](/source/Bayerischer_Rundfunk)|access-date=11 December 2024}}] starring [Peter Pasetti](/source/Peter_Pasetti) as Holmes and various actors as Watson.
In 1979, Hardwick wrote ''[The Prisoner of the Devil](/source/The_Prisoner_of_the_Devil)'' which features Holmes called in to solve the case of the [Dreyfus affair](/source/Dreyfus_affair).[{{cite web|title=The plot thickens|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/14177941.the-plot-thickens/|publisher=[The Herald](/source/The_Herald_(Glasgow))|date=1 January 2016|access-date=21 November 2018}}] The 1980s brought Hardwick's sequel to ''[The Hound of the Baskervilles](/source/The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles)'', entitled ''[The Revenge of the Hound](/source/The_Revenge_of_the_Hound)'' published by [Villard Books](/source/Villard_Books),[{{cite web|title=Revenge of the Hound|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-394-55653-6|publisher=[Publishers Weekly](/source/Publishers_Weekly)|date=30 September 1987|access-date=21 November 2018}}][{{cite web|last=Reynolds|first=Stanley|title=Elementary imitation, my dear Watson|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1988/aug/19/biography.crime|work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)|date=19 August 1988|access-date=21 November 2018}}] as well as ''The Private Life of Dr. Watson''[{{cite web|title=Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-hardwick-5/sherlock-holmes-my-life-and-crimes/|publisher=[Kirkus Reviews](/source/Kirkus_Reviews)|date=9 November 1984|access-date=21 November 2018}}] and ''Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes''.