I’ve just seen the first episode of Steven Moffat’s new Sherlock Holmes tv series, and quite enjoyed it. There’s more than a little resemblance between the way Moffat writes Holmes and the way he writes the Doctor (in fact the Holmes actor is rumored to have turned down the role of the Doctor).
Doctor and Companion in front of the TARDIS -- no, sorry, I mean Holmes and Watson at 221B Baker Street
This is also one of the coolest versions of Watson ever. (I hate versions that make Watson stupid. What makes Holmes impressive is that he outthinks smart people, not that he outthinks stupid people.)
Despite being set in the present day, the show is a lot more faithful to the spirit of the original (IMHO) than the recent Downey/Law film (though the two share in common the rather neat gimmick of displaying Holmes’s thought processes visually; of course Moffat did something similar in “The Eleventh Hour” as well). At the same time, it’s both lighter and darker than the original – in typically Moffatian ways.
My only real complaint was that I figured out the major plot point before Holmes did; admittedly, the audience has some information Holmes doesn’t, but still I thought he was a bit too slow on the uptake on that point.
Anyway, I recommend it; and the opening episode is on YouTube (at least for now) in ten-minute increments:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Incidentally, the show’s Baker Street is actually North Gower Street, I perceive.
Apparently, in addition to the Holmes actor’s having turned down the role of the Doctor, the current Doctor (Matt Smith) was turned down for the role of Watson.
The second episode is online now; not as good as the first (and not scripted by Moffat, btw) but still enjoyable:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
The third (and final for this season — yes, a three-episode season, and how annoying is that?) goes up next week. If the run is successful, there’ll be more.
Does the BBC say how they’ll measure success?
I hope Quality outweighs popularity. It’s kinda difficult to generate a following with three episodes…
Three episodes, but they’re all 90 minutes. If you think of it as a trilogy of movies, it feels much more generous.
Too bad only one of them is by Moffat, though.
Just saw the third (and for now the last) episode; it was much better than the second (perhaps because it was written by Mark Gatiss, Moffat’s collaborator in creating the show — who incidentally also plays Mycroft).
No spoilers here, but three comments: a) If you liked the Study in Scarlet references in the first episode, you get another one here. b) There’s another Doctor-Who-ish aspect to this episode. c) There was a clue early on that I should have caught and didn’t. When you go back and replay the scene you’ll want to replay after you see the ending, go a bit farther back and watch the lead-in to that scene also.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
In addition to the three episodes that have aired, there’s also an unaired pilot (whether consistent continuity-wise with the aired material I don’t know) that will be on the dvd. No word yet on whether the dvd will be available in region 1.
I’ve heard that the unaired pilot is an alternate version of the first episode. If so, I presume it is not continuity-consistent.
’Tis A Study in Plaid! And Holmes and Watson are Scotsmen! And they’re menaced by … a blancmange!
OK, I’ve watched #3 now. My wife can attest that I called the big plot twist early on. (The trick to figuring out TV & movie mysteries isn’t thinking like a detective; it’s thinking like a screenwriter.)
BBC confirms more episodes!
Good point about Watson’s non-stupidity being an essential part of the character; I think he’s well described by Michael Barrier’s comment on Roy Disney, as being an ordinary person whose “ordinariness was of a very high quality”. Plus the Watson/Holmes relationship obviously had a huge influence on science fiction, from Conan Doyle’s own Malone/Challenger dynamic in The Lost World and its sequels, and Asimov’s Elijah Baley/R. Daneel Olivaw relationship (I can’t find it but I remember seeing a source where Asimov directly acknowledged the influence).