The Pantaloons Theatre Company presented Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Victorian detective as we have never seen him before in their unique production of Sherlock Holmes at the Devonshire Park Theatre.

It was a madcap, energetic, often frantic production, which sometimes lapsed into undergraduate-type sketches, pantomime and music hall. Some of the jokes and attempts at sending up Holmes, Dr Watson and their housekeeper Mrs Hudson came off, but others didn’t.

The same applied to the lyrics of the songs and asides to which we were treated (or subjected). But the banter with the audience went down very well.

Edward Ferrow made an excellent Holmes. He looked a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch, who played him so well on television, and succeeded in paying a humorous homage to the great man.

Christopher Smart made an engaging Dr Watson, while Isaac Leafe and Elliot Quinn played various characters, including Inspector Lestrade Yard and the fiendishly evil Professor James Moriarty.

Director Mark Hayward wisely allowed the frenetic first-half pace of this two-hour show to ease after the interval, as Holmes set about solving the case of The Hound Of The Baskervilles while at the same time preparing to confront old foe Moriarty.