STACK February 2016 Issue 136

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Facts About
Sherlock Holmes
• Sherlock Holmes' first appearance on
film was in the US in 1900 on a 30-second
silent clip called Sherlock Holmes Baffled.
• Sherlock author Arthur Conan Doyle
was a ship's surgeon, a boxer and a first-
class cricketer before turning his hand to
writing.
• Predominantly a batsman, Doyle played
for the MCC, but only ever took one wicket
– that of legendary English cricketer,
W.G. Grace.
• The deerstalker cap and pipe
have become synonymous
with Sherlock Holmes, but
Doyle never mentions
them in his books; they
were added by illustrators
and moviemakers.
• "Elementary, my dear
Watson" is a misquote. While
Sherlock says "Elementary"
and "My Dear Watson", the
famous detective never
says them together in
any of Doyle's novels.
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’s brilliant modern
version of Sherlock Holmes has been drip-fed to
addicted viewers with a season every two years or so.
Although Series Four is still a while away, fans can get
a Sherlock fix this month with a special episode that
takes the character back to his roots in the
Victorian era – THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE. By Scott Hocking
"W e discovered we made a mistake and
set [the show] in the wrong era. We
should’ve checked the books first. It’s
one of the first things you have to do when
you adapt something,” a jovial Steven Moffat
tells STACK.
Although remaining secretive about plot
details and how exactly Sherlock and Watson
wind up back in the 19 th Century (no, Doctor
Who isn’t involved), Moffat does reveal that
despite the change in period, the foundations
of the show remain.
“You’re going to see our version of Sherlock
Holmes, which is, although updated, a very
accurate version if you know the original
stories – it’s really quite faithful. But obviously
there have been changes and tweaks as
we’ve worked it into the modern era. It’s
transposing that back to where it was in
Victorian times, and sort of revealing the
difference between then and now.
“One of the things we
immediately encountered was a
terrible but true fact about the
original Sherlock Holmes stories
– the women barely speak,”
he continues. “Once we went
back to Victorian times we had to
find something to do with all our
female characters, which have
become popular.
“It’s a stand-alone episode in
its own little bubble, that’s why
we’re doing it as a special.”
Moffat also isn’t giving anything
away regarding the belated
and much-anticipated
fourth series
ofSherlock , mainly
because he
himself doesn’t
really know what’s going to happen.
“There’s not much we can say, we haven’t
worked it all out, but we’re very excited about
what we’re going to do. A lot of what we’re
going to do, we’ve laid the pipework for
already – there’s stuff we set up a long time
ago that’s going to start paying off in a way
that I think is quite exciting.”
With stars Benedict Cumberbatch and
Martin Freeman both incredibly busy with
other film and television projects, and
Moffat himself involved full-time with Doctor
Who, the production of Sherlock has been
intermittent. However, he notes that while it
does frustrate fans hungry for more, there are
advantages to having a two-year gap between
seasons.
“We don’t use it all up or burn through it so
fast,” he explains. “The conventional model of
a TV series is you do it for three, five, or seven
years with loads of episodes until you’re bored
with it. We’re still in love with our show and
if everything worked out, we could still be
doing this in ten years if
we wanted to because
it’s not dominating
anyone’s career, it’s
not dominating your
life. It’s something you
can return to again and
again.”
SHERLOCK'S BRIDE
We’re still in love with our
show and if everything
worked out, we could still be
doing this in ten years if we
wanted to...
visit DVD&BD FEATURE
36 FEBRUARY 2016
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