Sherlock Holmes early 1900s, H. A. Saintsbury took over the role from Gillette for a tour of the play. Between this play and Conan Doyle's own stage adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", Saintsbury portrayed Holmes over 1,000 times. Basil Rathbone played Holmes and Nigel Bruce played Watson in fourteen U.S. films (two for 20th Century Fox and a dozen for Universal Pictures) from 1939 to 1946, and in "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" on the Mutual radio network from 1939 to 1946 (before the role of Holmes passed to Tom Conway). While the Fox films were period pieces,
Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes as Dr Watson, in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (2000), "The Royal Scandal" (2001), "The Sign of Four" (2001) and "The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire" (2002). 2002 saw a new version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" featuring Richard Roxburgh. Ian Hart played Dr. Watson then and also in the 2004 BBC airing of "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking", alternatively billed as "The Return of Sherlock Holmes". An original screenplay "based on the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle", this film takes place in 1902, with Dr. Watson "saving a dear friend from narcotics