A Modern Sherlock Holmes That Actually Works

[The Hen]

I love anticipation, but this is stretching it a bit.

Have I mentioned anywhere that I am partial to Martin Freeman .... as an actor?

[Daisy]

Not just as an actor I reckon

[Gob]

12 days of Sherlock.

"12 days, 12 clips, 12 amazing moments from the world's greatest detective. Check back each day for new clips, your favourites and an extra special clip on the 12th day. How mysterious!"

Each clip is about 3-4 minutes.

[Gob]

Whoooo hooooo!!!!!!!

It's been over a year since Sherlock Holmes was seen apparently leaping to his death in the finale of Series 2.
However, fans are set to find out how the detective faked his demise as Benedict Cumberbatch began filming Series 3 of the BBC show this week.
And it appears his sidekick Martin Freeman's real-life partner Amanda Abbington, who was recently declared bankrupt, is a new addition to the cast.
Benedict, 36, and Amanda, 39, were spotted filming scenes by a bonfire for the Series 3 opening episode The Empty Hearse in Bristol on Monday night.
With Amanda's partner Martin, who plays Watson, nowhere in sight, the Mr Selfridge star and Benedict were seen arriving in Portland Square on motorbike before dashing over to the fire.
It looks like something of importance may have been burning in the bonfire given the expressions of Benedict and Amanda.
It has been rumoured Amanda will be playing Watson's love interest Mary Morstan, who the doctor goes on to marry.
The first episode of Series 3 is loosely based on The Adventure Of The Empty House, in which Arthur Conan Doyle revealed how Sherlock had faked his death in The Reichenbach Fall.
In August, show creator Steven Moffat hinted at the forthcoming series: 'These three words might be a title, it might be a clue. They are Rat. Wedding. Bow.'
With broadcast of Series 3 scheduled for later this year, it's been quite a wait for the viewers of Sherlock.
The Series 2 finale, which was first broadcast on 15 January 2012, followed evil Jim Moriarty's (Andrew Scott) plot to discredit and kill Sherlock.
The detective was then seen faking his suicide watched by Watson.
The episode ended with Sherlock watching Watson and Mrs Hudson at his grave from a distance.
Moffat felt that he and co-creator Gatiss had outdone Conan Doyle in their version of Holmes' fall and added that there was still 'a clue everybody's missed'.
This prompted over 2million people to watch the episode on BBC iPlayer in an attempt to find out how Sherlock pulled off the stunt.
Meanwhile, the new series sees producers fulfill many fans' hopes by casting Amanda as Mary.
The actress, who played Miss Mardle in ITV period drama Mr Selfridge, was declared bankrupt this year over a £120,000 tax bill.
Amanda, who has two children with her partner of 11 years Martin, was registered insolvent in London's High Court under her birth name Amanda Jane Smith.

[Lord Jim]

It's been over a year since Sherlock Holmes was seen apparently leaping to his death in the finale of Series 2.

I'm waiting to see how the writers have figured out how to back out of that one....

Especially since there was an autopsy....

[Daisy]

Ahhh but who performed the autopsy Jim?

[Lord Jim]

Okay Daze, Watson performed the autopsy...(but there were a lot of other medical personnel on the scene, and at the hospital...)

And in the final scene of the last episode, Watson was clearly very angry and upset at Holmes' "grave" (months after the "death")....

(Of course, that could have been for show...to throw off Moriarty's accomplices, who might have been watching.... )

Here's one guy's interpretation of how the death may have been staged...(though for me, that's not the tough part; the tough part is after they took his body back to the hospital, how did they stage and fake everything that took place there, with so many people involved...maybe Steve could work that one out.... )

[Gob]

Here's how they will explain it....

[oldr_n_wsr]

It's been over a year since Sherlock Holmes was seen apparently leaping to his death in the finale of Series 2.

I'm waiting to see how the writers have figured out how to back out of that one....

Especially since there was an autopsy....

Sounds like the complaint of Kathleen Bates in Misery about the serial movies.

[Gob]

Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen is set to play a villain in the third series of BBC One's Sherlock.




Mikkelsen, who played mayoral candidate Troels Hartmann in cult Danish drama The Killing, will star as Charles Augustus Magnussen.

In Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, the title character is a blackmailer who extorts money from wealthy nobles.

The Sherlock series stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the famous detective.

Sherlock producer Sue Vertue announced the news of Mikkelsen's role on Twitter on Monday.

The Killing was broadcast by BBC Four in the UK.

Mikkelsen, 49, also starred in the hit show Borgen - his brother Mads starred opposite Daniel Craig in Casino Royale and is currently on TV screens in Hannibal.

Sherlock won three Bafta awards in 2011, including best supporting actor for Martin Freeman, who plays Holmes's sidekick Doctor Watson.

It went one better in 2012, picking up four awards including best writer for Steven Moffat and best supporting actor for Andrew Scott, who played Holmes's nemesis Moriarty.

The first two Sherlock series were equally popular with audiences, with an 7.9 million viewers for the final episode of series two last year.

A transmission date for the third series has yet to be announced.

[Gob]

This is interesting too, PBS cuts about 10 minutes of bits out to get it to the length required.

[Gob]

What is that thing under Watson's nose?

[oldr_n_wsr]

booogers

[Gob]

Before Benedict Cumberbatch next dons his Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, the BBC may be obliged to start negotiating with an elderly Hungarian-born socialite.

Andrea Plunket claims that not only does she own the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle but also plans to start legal proceedings to prevent the Corporation making any more episodes of its successful Sherlock franchise.

Cumberbatch and fellow actor Martin Freeman, who plays Dr Watson, are scheduled to film a further series next year.

But Mrs Plunket is throwing down a legal gauntlet to the BBC.

She insists she retains the copyright to the last ten stories from the Conan Doyle oeuvre in the U.S. More crucially, she claims to have registered as her trademark all the leading characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories and accuses the BBC of breaching her trademark.

‘No one has asked permission to use my trademarks and I am confident that if and when I go to court I will be able to prevent the BBC making any more Sherlocks,’ she tells me from her home in New York. ‘That is my wish.’

Plunket, 73, the former mistress of Claus von Bulow, who was twice tried with the attempted murder of his heiress wife Sunny, was previously married to Sheldon Reynolds, the Hollywood producer for whom she purchased the U.S. copyright to Sherlock Holmes stories.

[Gob]

Switching over to Steven Moffat's other series," "Sherlock" is confirmed to be back in the U.K. over the holiday and will certainly air well before the January 19th U.S. premiere date. The BBC still hasn't announced a specific date as yet for the third series, but we will find out next week. The specific dates of the episodes are set to be unveiled on December 4th when the BBC announces its exact schedule.
The BBC has confirmed that the year’s biggest television mystery will be answered over the Yuletide period with the confirmation of the return of Sherlock in the Radio Times Christmas double issue.
This means the first episode, The Empty Hearse, will air sometime between December 21 and January 3 and bring to an end the desperation of fans longing to know how Sherlock faked his own death.
The BBC has given no indication of the exact date but fans with a fondness for speculation may be expecting a Sunday broadcast day given it's importance in the weekly schedule and the fact that both previous series of the detective drama aired on that day. That would mean it could air on Sunday December 22 or Sunday December 29. It is understood that New Year's Day – a Wednesday this year – could also be under consideration as a broadcast date.

[Gob]

First things first.

We're not going to tell you how he survived The Fall.

Rest assured, you find out.

Will you be satisfied? Yes. We think you will.

With that, the most critical and anticipated element of the entire episode out of the way, we can begin properly. Making a triumphant return, this is an unusual episode of Sherlock, different from anything that has come before. The emphasis is focused not so much on an actual dedicated case - though that bubbles along nicely all the same and will also be described in zero detail here - but the emotional fallout that follows the return of a best friend from the dead. Indeed, the episode could be alternatively titled 'The Long Reunion', with the simple themes of the need for forgiveness and regaining someone's trust running tightly throughout the entire duration.

That may sound heavy duty material, but in truth it really isn't. The Empty Hearse is infused with uproarious comedy, wicked and knowing writing, huge surprises, lovely in-jokes and thrilling action, all while taking us to places in London we haven't been before onscreen in the series. But it is also hugely concerned with the instant that Sherlock Holmes and John Watson come face to face with each other again, and in that singular spine chilling moment, a scene that effortlessly shifts tone in seconds thanks to the sterling performances of the two leading actors, it certainly does not disappoint. It's the moment that drives everything afterwards in the episode, a push for emotional realism that was maybe lacking in Conan Doyle's original prose, and thus the focus is fixed purely on the characters and their reaction to the return of Sherlock Holmes into a world that has moved on without him.



It goes without saying the performances that back all this material up are brilliant. Benedict Cumberbatch begins much as you expect him to be, but ends up bringing a new degree of softness to his Sherlock once the severity of what he has done truly hits home. Martin Freeman infuses an expanded element of hurt to his John - though that in turn is ably countered by the warmth of the performance of Amanda Abbington as Mary Morstan, sliding quite effortlessly into the ensemble and the lives of the two main characters. Mary doesn't interfere or detract from the dynamic of Sherlock and John at all in this opening instalment, understanding instantly both how important the detective was/is to the damaged man she has fallen for, and gaining the respect of Holmes with little difficulty. If anything she adds a new wrinkle to the series, giving it an additional layer of forward momentum that will surely take us to some interesting places in the next two episodes. And avoiding explicit specifics, the supporting characters are given plenty to do here. A more proactive Mycroft from Mark Gatiss - displaying a great degree of verbal fencing with his younger brother in one stand out scene that harks back to a conversation from series past; a hugely expanded amount of screen time for Louise Brealey's Molly; some choice language for Rupert Graves' Lestrade; an initially flinty heart that cracks into radiant warmth from Una Stubbs' Mrs Hudson; and an altogether surprising role for Jonathan Aris' Anderson.

This is also a visually resplendent and exciting episode to look at, Jeremy Lovering delivering direction that is simultaneously hugely cinematic and very intimate. The human moments shine clearly through next to astounding visual effect shots that would not look out of place in a major motion picture. David Arnold and Michael Price's score is blown to new proportions, the orchestrations lending the use of the main title theme in the episode an epic quality that we haven't heard before, alongside some exciting new material that will doubtless be developed as the series progresses. And as we've probably already made clear, Mark Gatiss' writing here is beyond clever, setting out to both fulfil and defy expectations in the way events unfold and how elements of canon are deployed. As always, never think you know how things will occur as you've read the original stories.

Sherlock was never a series that needed reinventing, but it is a series that is constantly pushing itself into new directions of its own accord. With The Empty Hearse, the dynamics are the same but different, a two faced coin that merrily keeps spinning throughout the duration without dropping either way. The chance for hand-over-mouth moments is high, the likelihood of huge laughs even moreso. But the greatest thing that can be said is that Sherlock is back. How he has come to be so is perhaps unimportant come the close, but there are two words that were never truer come the conclusion of this brilliant, surprising first episode of Series Three.

Sherlock Lives.

[Daisy]

I'm on holiday in Spain when it's broadcast on New Year's Day. I will be avoiding all spoilers, but rest assured It'll be watched before the suitcases are unpacked on our return.

[Gob]

Daisy, I'm not sure when they will be broadcast here, they start on 19th Jan in the USA.

You will of course, be recording them will you not? (hint, hint)

[Daisy]

I won't be recording as such we have a TV with built in catch up services.

You could watch it live on http://www.castalba.tv

[Gob]

Ooh, neat. I'll be on the torrents within 5 mins of ending though