Literary adaptation
Works of literature have been adapted for film from the dawn of the industry. Some of the earliest examples come from the work of Georges Méliès, who pioneered many film techniques. In 1899, he released two adaptations — "Cinderella" based on the Brothers Grimm story of the same name and "King John", the first known film to be based on the works of Shakespeare. The 1900 film "Sherlock Holmes Baffled", directed by Arthur Marvin featured Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes intruding upon a pseudo-supernatural burglary. The film, considered the first detective movie, ran for only 30 seconds and was originally intended to be shown in hand-cranked Mutoscope machines.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The first story is set in 1894 and has Holmes returning in London and explaining the period from 1891–1894, a period called "The Great Hiatus" by Sherlockian enthusiasts. Also of note is Watson's statement in the last story of the cycle that Holmes has retired, and forbids him to publish any more stories.The Return of Sherlock Holmes was adapted for BBC Radio 4 in 1992–3 as part of Bert Coules' complete radio adaptation of the canon, starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson. Notable guest stars included Denis Quilley as Bob Carruthers in "The Solitary Cyclist", Alex Norton as Cairns in "Black Peter", Peter Vaughan as Charles Augustus Milverton, Peter Sallis as Jonas Oldacre in "The Norwood Builder", and Penny Downie as Lady Brackenstall in "The Abbey Grange". The episodes were written by Bert Coules, Michael Bakewell, Roger Danes, David Ashton, Peter Ling, and Robert Forrest, and directed by Enyd Williams and Patrick Rayner.