What better way to start the year than with a new episode of Sherlock?
Since its first episode back in 2010, the hit BBC show has established itself as one of the most successful reinventions of this classic fictional character. This is a resolutely modern, London-based adaptation: gone are Conan Doyle’s smog and carriages; in their place are laptops, mobile phones and Twitter hashtags. Our crime-solving hero is presented as ‘a new sleuth for the 21st century’, supplementing his trademark methods of logical deduction with cutting-edge scientific methods and the latest technology. Sherlock is brilliant, fast, dynamic, dapper and funny. Yet he’s also arrogant, odd, obsessive and, as journalist Amanda Mitchison puts it, ‘slightly Aspergers-ish’. He is able to make us laugh, but he’s also part of a world that is dark and frightening.
The detective and the Doctor
Doctor Who’s head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat played a major role in Sherlock’s creation, and the two shows’ protagonists are strikingly similar. Both delight in their intellect, which allows them to solve problems and save lives – always being one step ahead, and always winning in the end. However, Moffat explains that the two characters are almost opposites: ‘The Doctor is the angel who aspires to be human, and Sherlock is the human who aspires to be an evil god’.
