For my friends in the USA, you are in for a bloody treat. For tonight (24th October), Your local PBS station is going to start broadcasting Sherlock, a rare delicacy we devoured here in the UK in the Summer. Seek it it out - it's more than worth it....
In my opinion, it's the only British show of the last few years that can compare to US dramas in terms of quality, scripting, performances and production values. It is truly awesome, and must have cost the BBC a stupid amount of money (which they've undoubtedly recouped by selling it worldwide - kerr-ching!).
...a bit like Dr Who, which like it or not, has also been a gigantic moneyspinner for Auntie, So they gave Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat ,the scamps behind the current season of the show, the chance to get to grips with reinventing Sherlock Holmes. (And incidentally, Moffatt was behind the scariest Dr Who episode ever, Blink, featuring a young Carey Mulligan.)
Madonna's ex, Guy Richie, also tried a revamp recently, with Robert Downey Jr as a hammy version of the great detective, and Jude Law playing Watson as a bit of a posh, tasty, nawty geezer. Hmmm......Yeah, it was all-right I suppose, giving 19th century characters modern sensibilities.
But that movie is not a patch on this new TV version.
This reboot brings the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories bang up to date. I'll get to the excellent casting in a minute, but its pretty clear the writers love the original books. We all think of the deerstalker, the pipe the violin and so on (only the violin is retained) but Moffat and Gatiss have written a version of the character that seems to be truer in spirit to the original, than the Guy Richie version.
I've got to say at this point, (spoiler alert) that writer Mark Gatiss (ex of The League of Gentlemen) clearly couldn't resist taking the plum role of M, the head of MI6 in the series. And of course, the M in this case stands for Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's elder brother. I wonder if Mr Gatiss has read Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, where the identity of M is a running gag (see below)
Anyway, I digress - the show was a big hit in the UK, partly because it made the whole concept of Sherlock, well, a bit sexy.
The title role's played by the brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch, who seems to make laydeez (ie: my GLW and my female boss at least) emit a low growling noise, whilst simultaneously pulling what I would describe as a disturbing predatory expression - even though he plays Sherlock as a sort of Aspergers Savant - with no emotional wherewithall whatsoever, but quite, quite brilliant nonetheless.
For example, check out Sherlock's gaydar, when he meets "Jim from IT", which puts everyone else's to shame....
Which brings me on to Martin Freeman (who's just signed up to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit movies).
He brings a refined depth and humour to Dr Watson - and is probably the most intelligent version of the character I've ever seen. There's nothing buffoonish about him, and he's as fascinated by Sherlock as we are. The show also explains why Dr Watson would want to be Sherlock's sidekick in the first place. His character is a soldier: an Army doctor injured in action in Afghanistan, bored and war weary, and in search of something to make him feel alive.
The scene changes and editing are exquisite (I must be a bit mental praising those - but watch 'em, they're very clever) and in the same way most shows use mobile phones as a plot device to move the scene on, Sherlock uses text messages which appear- speech-bubble like - on screen when someone's phone beeps. When Sherlock uses the net on his smartphone, his searching appears on screen next to him. It's a very clever device.
And then there's the music - the title music is ho-hum, and it's thankfully sparse throughout the show - but there's a little "Sherlock Holmes theme" which plays whenever he's examining a crime scene or the cogs are whirring in his head. It's very evocative, and I've been humming it non-stop since the show aired over here in the summer. Here, have a listen (it's the first track):
Another thing: just wait for the entrance of Sherlock's arch-nemesis, (Professor) James Moriarty in the series.
He is genuinely scary, a genuine Napoleon of Crime, who is more than a match for Sherlock. And he also has a Dublin accent to boot (can the writers be the first to have considered that Moriarty is an Irish name? Genius).
In fact, all in all, this is my second-favourite filmed version of Sherlock Holmes.
My favourite? It's "The Seven Per Cent Solution" starring Nichol Williamson as a quite barmy Sherlock Holmes, and Robert Duvall as Watson. It's an absolutely brilliant, grown-up version of the Holmes and Watson legend. You can get it cheaply here
The second season of the BBCs Sherlock will be broadcast in autumn 2011, and as for those of you in the States who haven't seen it - I suggest you seek out your local PBS station right now.
(And for those of you who missed an episode of two - because the BBC stupidly put it on in the middle of the summer holidays - it's on DVD and you can also download it on iTunes).
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