Everyone should have heard of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson before; the world widely known companions who solve murders and mysteries all around London.
People may imagine Sherlock as an intelligent, well disciplined detective living in the Victorian age. A man who is always smoking a pipe, and wearing his signature detective hat.
Photograph in possession of SchroCat
But I picture a completely different person
with black, curly hair
narrow blue eyes,
wearing a long, dark coat with the collar up
and a blue scarf around his neck
Who is he you ask?
He is the consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes from the modern day BBC iteration of Sherlock.
BBC Sherlock is a British television show based on the well-known story of the detective Sherlock Holmes. It first aired in 2010, and released its last episode in 2017. Since the day it was first revealed to audiences, this has been the most popular and loved Sherlock series ever made.
So what makes it so different and interesting? Everything! But today, I’ll tone it down to three main points.
1. The Story
The original Sherlock Holmes comes from a series of books written by Arthur Conan Doyle. With its first story published in 1887, it became a classic detective mystery story, and still remains to be very famous among people.
Unlike this original version of Sherlock, this show takes place in the 21st century. It completely broke out from the typical stereotype of its original source material, as it made some drastic changes to the settings.
I’ll get to the comparison of these two versions. But first, here is the premise of this show. Sherlock Holmes is a jobless genius maniac who lives on his own, solving crimes for “fun.” He keeps on living a solitary life, until he meets Dr. John Watson, a retired army doctor who had served in several wars. They go on and investigate mysteries together, sometimes encountering many hardships and life endangering moments.
Each episode is about an hour long, and is full of suspense and unexpected twists. The events that happen in the story are not so believable and likely to happen in real life. However, these events are portrayed in a way that is incredibly entertaining and mesmerizing. Some might say that they’re too “corny” and “unrealistic,” but as soon as they watch more of the seasons, they’d be on the edge of their seats in no time.
2. The Characters
The most important factor that makes a good show must be, of course, the characters. In BBC Sherlock, every single character is compelling in their own ways. Even the villain! Let’s start with Sherlock himself.
Sherlock Holmes is a rude, childish man who likes to show off his intelligence to other people.
“Dear God, what’s it like in your funny little brains? It must be so boring.”
He attacks people using his mouth that utter a thousand words per second with a completely bland facial expression. For obvious reasons, nobody was willing to become friends with him. But after meeting John, his human side begins to come to the surface. It turns out that he is truly capable of caring about people. Whenever anyone gets into trouble, he never steps back to sacrifice himself or them. However, this soft side of him would often get overlooked by his madness.
But we always come to love him in the end.
“He is the cleverest man in the world, but he’s not a monster.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“Yeah, okay, alright, he is. But he’s our monster.”
John Watson was a broken man. He was an army doctor who went through brutal battles in Afghanistan, and obtained a wound in his heart that he never was able to heal. However, after meeting Sherlock, John’s trauma was gradually cured as he became a part of his life. Joining his investigations of murder and crime, he begins to feel a sense of fulfillment again, and goes back to being mentally stable. John may sometimes get irritated by Sherlock’s unreasonable behavior, but the two of them become each other’s best friend.
“John, I am a ridiculous man … redeemed only by the warmth and constancy of your friendship.”
Moriarty is the evil mastermind behind every crime that occurs in London. He plays with everyone’s minds with his way of meddling in every situation without leaving a trace. His level of insanity and intelligence is exceedingly high, since he sometimes even confuses Sherlock. But in contrast to his abilities and power, he speaks in a playful and mischievous way, which makes him the most frightening character in every scene. His low tone voice and glaring eyes makes the viewers feel shivers up their spines.
“In a world of locked rooms, the man with the key is king. And honey, you should see me in a crown.”
3. The Acting
The actors in BBC Sherlock did a perfect job playing their characters. Several of them received many awards after filming this show. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, who plays Sherlock and John, were both nominated for the Emmy Awards and some others as well. Martin stated that as soon as they began reading the script for the first time, they had a chemistry between them that made the acting easy and natural to do.
The rest of the Sherlock crew were amazing as well. For example, Andrew Scott, the actor who played Moriarty, did an outstanding job in showing his character’s amusement whenever he does something evil, and his psychotic behavior in general.
+ The Book Series vs BBC
This show follows the basic storyline of the original Sherlock books, but has made some tweaks along the way.
Many characters from the books, other than Sherlock and John, were preserved. Such as Mrs.Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock’s apartment, and Inspector Lestrade, a policeman that is somewhat a coworker of Sherlock. But compared to the book, they have more depth and backstory to them, which gives us a reason to actually be engaged in them.
Changes can also be found in the titles of each episode. The original chapter names are <A Study In Scarlet> and <A Scandal in Bohemia> Now, compare that to the show’s version, which are <A Study In Pink> and <A Scandal in Belgravia>.
The main events between them are primarily similar, but I personally think that the show added much more craziness to them.
BBC Sherlock was always a delight to watch over and over again. Even though it ended years ago, people are still rewatching this series on the internet. Here is a list of platforms that you’ll be able to watch this masterpiece on.
Go and watch it for yourself, and you’ll get everything that I’ve told you so far. Welcome to BBC Sherlock!