# New BBC contemporary Sherlock Holmes drama. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027 "2010-07-26T09:13:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Galanthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Galanthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galanthus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/1 "2010-07-26T09:13:54Z")
Anyone else watch this last night? I went into it with rather low expectations as I didn’t like the idea but ended up really enjoying it. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/2 "2010-07-26T10:42:06Z")
I thought it was pretty great! I really liked all the little touches of bringing it up to date like the modern version of the three pipe problem in an age where smoking is less welcome. I thought the whole thing worked very well. I swear it’s not just because of Steven Moffat being involved in the writing but I did think their Holmes kept reminding me a lot of David Tennant’s portrayal of the Doctor. They don’t look anything like each other but they both have a similar mix of contradictions. Arrogant and playful but often emotionally distant, even cold. Plus vastly intelligent but sometimes missing the human dimension. I’m really disappointed there’s only three episodes. That’s a bit weird, isn’t it? Seems too many for a pilot but not enough for a series. I wonder if they orignally planned to have it go out at Christmas or over some other high profile bank holiday weekend and have (wrongly IMO) decided it’s now not good enough for that? Oh and I thought the co writer Mark Gatiss was fantastic as his character too. Wrongfooted me totally and I hope we see him again. ---
**Author:** ![Galanthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Galanthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galanthus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/3 "2010-07-26T10:54:52Z")
I too was wrong footed by that one - jumped right into the obvious trap. Liked where they took it though, I suspect that Gatiss and Moffat where influanced by Alan Moore there. I’ve seen a lot of hilarious posts on other sites where people have been making “Princess Bride” comments without realising that the influence was the other way around 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/4 "2010-07-26T11:54:23Z")
SH meets Doctor Who! It’s more 4 1/2 hours than “3 episodes”. I suppose the BBC want to see if it sells abroad before spending even more fortunes. Very good in a Saturday evening, light entertainment kind of way. Liked the partnership. Didn’t think the bloke from The Office could do it but he was fine. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/5 "2010-07-26T13:20:31Z")
I always thought Sherlock Holmes was a silly name. Until I saw he’s being played by Benedict Cumberbatch. I liked it. it started out with irritating camera work, but they soon got shot of that and it turned out quite fun. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/6 "2010-07-26T13:25:50Z")
> [@Galanthus](#): > > I too was wrong footed by that one - jumped right into the obvious trap. > > Liked where they took it though, I suspect that Gatiss and Moffat where influanced by Alan Moore there. > > I’ve seen a lot of hilarious posts on other sites where people have been making “Princess Bride” comments without realising that the influence was the other way around 🙂 Heh. I was reminded of Moore too. (Spoilers for both “Sherlock” and Alan Moore’s “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” follow) Although Mina makes the same mistake the other way around, doesn’t she? Assumes the shadowy 'M’who controls British Intelligence **is** Mycroft, I mean. Man, I wish we’d have seen more of the Sherlock Holmes characters in that comic - the tiny glimpses we got of them were so awesome. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/7 "2010-07-26T14:24:42Z")
I liked it, in a good piece of Sunday night fluff, type of way. It was a fun romp that ticked lots of boxes for Holmes fans. I’m glad they went modern as the Jeremy Brett version so nailed Holmes and the Victorian world that any re-make trying to be totally faithful to the original texts would just fail IMO. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/8 "2010-07-26T18:40:00Z")
The actor playing Holmes doesn’t really work for me. The perfect one would’ve been Hugh Laurie. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/9 "2010-07-27T09:41:14Z")
I really liked the modern setting, and the deductions. I also liked the killers method, how to make the victims poison themselves. I was wondering if Sherlock had never read The Princess Bride. Also, there was clever dialogue. Although Sherlock himself wasn’t always as clever as he was presented as. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/10 "2010-07-27T10:36:55Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I was wondering if Sherlock had never read The Princess Bride. I believe that William Goldman (Princess Bride) stole it from Conan Doyle. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/11 "2010-07-27T10:57:49Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > > [@mr.jp](#): > > > > I was wondering if Sherlock had never read The Princess Bride. > > I believe that William Goldman (Princess Bride) stole it from Conan Doyle. [slight hijack] You mean the original Morgernstern text, of course. Goldman merely abridged it. 😉 I was pleasantly suprised by how much I enjoyed the program, I look forward to the next one! I felt both main characters were well cast and it’s been cleverly updated. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/12 "2010-07-27T12:47:06Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > > [@mr.jp](#): > > > > I was wondering if Sherlock had never read The Princess Bride. > > I believe that William Goldman (Princess Bride) stole it from Conan Doyle. Was the show based on an actual Conan Doyle story? I’m not that familiar with the original stories. I was just wondering about that Sherlock didn’t suspect, that the cab driver had built up immunity. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/13 "2010-07-27T12:52:55Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > > [@GuanoLad](#): > > > > > [@mr.jp](#): > > > > > > I was wondering if Sherlock had never read The Princess Bride. > > > > I believe that William Goldman (Princess Bride) stole it from Conan Doyle. > > Was the show based on an actual Conan Doyle story? I’m not that familiar with the original stories. Yes, a lot of elements were lifted from A Study in Scarlet. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/14 "2010-07-27T13:02:56Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > The actor playing Holmes doesn’t really work for me. > > The perfect one would’ve been Hugh Laurie. He already does play Holmes. It’s just they called him House and made him a doctor instead of a detective. But watching the modern setting does reinforce the parallels. (And Watson’s limp didn’t help either). > [@mr.jp](#): > > Also, there was clever dialogue. Although Sherlock himself wasn’t always as clever as he was presented as. In particular, I thought the “hunt in plain sight”, “victims disappear from the streets” conundrum had been solved when the cab turned up at Northumberland St. That Holmes hadn’t got it, and was genuinely surprised by the later reveal, was kind of a shock. Also, I didn’t like that they started off with a serial killer plot. Some of the original Holmes’ best mysteries are trivial - disappearing fiancees, and the like. Or they start trivial only to twist into something more serious (that only Holmes would suspect). If it’s always going to be murder and other high-profile crimes, that’s slightly out of step with the original - where what interested Holmes was not the seriousness of the crime but the intellectual puzzle it gave him. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/15 "2010-07-27T16:57:07Z")
> [@amrussell](#): > > In particular, I thought the “hunt in plain sight”, “victims disappear from the streets” conundrum had been solved when the cab turned up at Northumberland St. That Holmes hadn’t got it, and was genuinely surprised by the later reveal, was kind of a shock. Yeah, that was the worst. Also bad was when he realized it was Watson who shot the guy, and then made the most obvious change of mind ever, instead of trying to conceal it. “Seems like he figured out who it was, and tries to hide it”, would be the very straightforward thought after that. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/16 "2010-07-27T20:09:01Z")
Is there any indication when this show will be available in the United States or online? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bbc-contemporary-sherlock-holmes-drama/548027/17 "2010-07-27T20:19:22Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Is there any indication when this show will be available in the United States or online? It’s a co-production with WGBH Boston as part of their Masterpiece programming if that’s any help.