Last year Peter Egan and Philip Franks toured as Sherlock Holmes and his faithful Dr Watson, respectively, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, which was great fun and delightfully tongue-in-cheek.

Now the same two actors have reprised their roles, but the same sense of fun is missing.

There is nothing the matter with their performances. They are absolutely believable as the saturnine private detective with the cocaine habit, and his loyal assistant and chronicler.

There is good chemistry between them, but it’s all a bit static and you stick with it because Egan is perfect as the unpredictable genius and Franks so likeable as the loyal friend who endures all the putdowns and somehow maintains his dignity.

It is very much a history of the Holmes/Watson relationship; their first meeting, deciding to share the famous rooms in Baker Street, and then to work together.

They deliver a verbal retrospective of some of their great cases.

The narrative embraces Holmes’ final battle with his nemesis Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland where both are assumed to have perished. Except no bodies are found.

The story is dramatic but somehow it doesn’t scintillate.

As Watson describes his grief for his lost friend, the man himself reappears and explains apparently all.

The set is terrific, so much so that I’d quite like to live in it.

The big secret is… well that would be telling. But it’s not startling enough to lift this rather pedestrian play. There are some exciting moments and a good deal of humour. But overall it is unsatisfying.

It remains at Bath until Saturday.