I am among the latest victims of the fever that has claimed so many in the Western world and is spreading with creepy sureness to other continents. Sherlock Holmes fever. Or, to be precise, Sherlock fever. I refer, of course, to the BBC’s highly successful television drama series.
I don’t normally watch television, given the general quality (or lack thereof) of content that passes for entertainment nowadays, unless there’s absolutely nothing else at hand on the rare occasion that I find myself with some spare time. So I had no inkling of the treat I was in for when by pure chance I stumbled on the Sherlock episode ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ being aired on AXN as part of a special ‘binge’ telecast of the series. I was interested straightaway as the title was obviously a spin on that of the only Sherlock Holmes novel I had read until then – The Hound of the Baskervilles – and I found the idea of a modern-day Sherlock Holmes very captivating. Yes, there are any number of detective shows, but Sherlock Holmes is somehow a different universe altogether.
I wasn’t able to watch that episode through to the end, but I really liked what I saw and decided to explore more of this series.
I think one of Sherlock’s chief achievements is in preserving the sanctity and character of the original material while modernizing Holmes in a completely believable way. The writers have changed only what they necessarily had to, and that of course includes the actual plots. You need engaging plots that are relevant to the modern context, and you need villains of consequence to present-day Britain. There is little more that needs to change. Holmes doesn’t need to be a computer geek or really anything other than the essential man of logic and reason; Watson doesn’t have to be a woman or Asian or a male nurse or anything but a military doctor with a taste for adventure. In giving us a contemporary Holmes & Watson, the creators have mercifully not gone overboard or taken too much of a creative licence. Which feels right because Sherlock Holmes, like the British royalty, is an institution, a part of the culture. It takes a genuine fan to really understand that and interpret it correctly on screen, and the creators have proven themselves true fans in their treatment of the man and the milieu.
Take the cast: the very British Benedict Cumberbatch convincingly embodies the Doylean essence of Holmes. With his tall, lean frame; feline eyes that register the slightest change in his train of thought; wonderfully deep voice; clear, precise, clipped diction; slender, delicate fingers; poise and grace of movement; Cumberbatch is picture-perfect. Watching him, it is painful to imagine another actor in the role. There is an element of heightened theatricality about Cumberbatch’s performance, which only enhances Holmes’ almost superhuman image. And we see naked arrogance, even rudeness, in Sherlock because there are no Victorian scruples binding him to suffer mediocrity in silence.
Of course, the modern Holmes too is lost without his “Boswell”, his flatmate and blogger, Dr. Watson, essayed effortlessly by Martin Freeman. The original Watson was a literary device that provided a means of describing Holmes and his adventures in the third person, and the modern series necessarily had to flesh out the character and make him his own person. The modern Watson hides a stronger persona than the original under his quiet demeanour; he’s not only “a crack shot, with nerves of steel” (Sherlock’s words), but is full of witty repartee in response to his genius flatmate’s arrogant pronouncements that might faze a lesser man. Freeman’s earthy, natural style of acting perfectly complements Cumberbatch’s theatricality, and the combination works beautifully on screen.
The powerful reinvention of Holmes’ nemesis, Moriarty, is another great achievement of Sherlock. Not only has the actor Andrew Scott creatively reimagined the villain, but the writers have also given greater depth to Doyle’s idea of his being essentially the antiSherlock, giving us a formidable character who elevates evil to perfection! Scenes involving Moriarty – few though in number – are among the most gripping and memorable moments of the series.
The quality of the production does justice to the concept and the superior writing. At 90 minutes, each episode is like a full-fledged movie and I’ve frequently wished I could watch one in a cinema theatre. The music truly enhances the feel of the mise-en-scene, and while the title music and theme are obviously great, the background score and song choices for some of the scenes are pure inspiration: those used in The Reichenbach Fall (Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie and Nina Simone’s Sinnerman) and in The Empty Hearse (Yolanda by Pink Martini) are great examples. The dialogue is sparkling and there’s never a dull moment. The plot construction is so masterfully intricate, the pacing so fast, and the scene detailing so rich that re-watching each episode is not just an option but a requirement if one is to really get the most out of the experience. It is not without its flaws, but if entertainment is food for the mind, then Sherlock sates and whets one’s appetite at the same time!
After three series of episodes, viewers across the world are eagerly awaiting the Christmas special this year (set, interestingly, in the Victorian era!) and Series 4 in 2016, but, as a fan, I have a few apprehensions. The trend from Series 1 to Series 3 has tended toward the dramatic and the spectacular and away from the logical and analytical characteristics of the Sherlock Holmes canon. The creators have called it “a series about a detective rather than a detective series”, and I hope they do not use that description as a licence to include more elements of the soap opera and the sitcom which hijacked series 3. I think watching Sherlock Holmes in action at a crime scene, or Sherlock and John bantering, bickering and dissecting cases in the hallowed confines of 221B Baker Street are the most cherished aspects of the viewing experience, and hope the creators find ways to give us more of that.
However, the canny creators have their insurance in the long gaps they put between series (2 years or more!) and know that by now the fan base – myself included – will simply be grateful just to have more of their favourite show and will eagerly watch, and probably re-watch, anything they put in Series 4!
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