Guy Ritchie’s recent film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective stories about Sherlock Holmes and his affable sidekick, Dr. Watson, performed exceptionally well at the box office this past holiday season. Detective shows on television today continue to top the ratings, with viewers tuning into catch a glimpse into the latest forensic tools real detectives are using to solve crimes. So why not combine literature’s most famous detective with the modern-day tools of the trade? It seems elementary, dear readers.
According to the Guardian, a new BBC series that transports Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lastrade and Holmes’ nemesis Moriarty to the present time began filming last month. The series is being co-written by Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat and actor and novelist Mark Gatiss. The series will star Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character, and Martin Freeman — he of the greatest ambivalent shrugs of all time and originator of the role of “Jim” (a.k.a. Tim) on the British version of The Office — will play Watson.
So what aspects of the original Conan Doyle novels and stories will make the trip into the 21st century, and what parts of Holmes and Watson’s lives will be updated? According to the Guardian, the great detective will still inhabit 221B Baker Street, and says Moffat, “Everything that matters about Holmes and Watson is the same. Conan Doyle’s stories were never about frock coats and gas light[s]; they’re about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes and frankly, to hell with the crinoline.”
What will change, however, are the plot lines. Gone are the twists and turns wherein Holmes uncovers a key detail in a case by reading cigar ash. Also, when the series opens, Holmes greets Watson with the following lines: “How are you? You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.” This line was taken from an original Holmes story by Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet; however, in the modern-day version of the series, Watson reveals that he was in Afghanistan to help troops fighting the Taliban.
In addition to Watson’s modern-day duties helping soldiers in Afghanistan, Gatiss hopes the new series will help provide an escape for viewers in a time of such uncertainty and unrest. “It’s a great comfort to me; a world in which German spies have bombs under their cloaks and submarine plans are stolen in the fog is a nice place to be when you fear that a dirty bomb might go off at Liverpool Street any day.”
For Gatiss, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective’s exploits provided a diversion from his humdrum formative years in a suburban town. Now, he and Moffat hope to bring their lifelong love of Holmes, Watson, Lastrade and Moriarty to both a new generation who may not be familiar with the books as well as seasoned fans. The recently rekindled interest in the detective already inspired Stanford University to republish the original Holmes stories, and now a new generation of television viewers will be inspired to pick up the novels. Just don’t expect 21st century Holmes to tweet as he races through the London underground. Technology seems more like Watson’s bag, anyway.
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