STACK #136 Feb 2016

DVD & BD FEATURE

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SHERLOCK'S BRIDE

Moffat himself involved full-time with Doctor Who , the production of Sherlock has been intermittent. However, he notes that while it does frustrate fans hungry for more, there are advantages to having a two-year gap between seasons. “We don’t use it all up or burn through it so fast,” he explains. “The conventional model of a TV series is you do it for three, five, or seven years with loads of episodes until you’re bored with it. We’re still in love with our show and if everything worked out, we could still be

Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’s brilliant modern version of Sherlock Holmes has been drip-fed to addicted viewers with a season every two years or so. Although Series Four is still a while away, fans can get a Sherlock fix this month with a special episode that takes the character back to his roots in the Victorian era – THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE .  By Scott Hocking

doing this in ten years if we wanted to because it’s not dominating anyone’s career, it’s not dominating your life. It’s something you can return to again and again.”

• Sherlock: The Abominable Bride is out on Feb 3

really know what’s going to happen. “There’s not much we can say, we haven’t worked it all out, but we’re very excited about what we’re going to do. A lot of what we’re going to do, we’ve laid the pipework for already – there’s stuff we set up a long time ago that’s going to start paying off in a way that I think is quite exciting.”  With stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman both incredibly busy with other film and television projects, and We’re still in love with our show and if everything worked out, we could still be doing this in ten years if we wanted to...

"W e discovered we made a mistake and set [the show] in the wrong era. We should’ve checked the books first. It’s one of the first things you have to do when you adapt something,” a jovial Steven Moffat tells STACK . Although remaining secretive about plot details and how exactly Sherlock and Watson wind up back in the 19 th Century (no, Doctor Who isn’t involved), Moffat does reveal that despite the change in period, the foundations of the show remain. “You’re going to see our version of Sherlock Holmes, which is, although updated, a very accurate version if you know the original stories – it’s really quite faithful. But obviously there have been changes and tweaks as we’ve worked it into the modern era. It’s transposing that back to where it was in Victorian times, and sort of revealing the difference between then and now.  “One of the things we

DVD & BD

Facts About Sherlock Holmes • Sherlock Holmes' first appearance on film was in the US in 1900 on a 30-second silent clip called Sherlock Holmes Baffled . • Sherlock author Arthur Conan Doyle was a ship's surgeon, a boxer and a first- class cricketer before turning his hand to writing. • Predominantly a batsman, Doyle played for the MCC, but only ever took one wicket – that of legendary English cricketer, W.G. Grace.

immediately encountered was a terrible but true fact about the original Sherlock Holmes stories – the women barely speak,” he continues. “Once we went back to Victorian times we had to find something to do with all our female characters, which have become popular. “It’s a stand-alone episode in its own little bubble, that’s why we’re doing it as a special.” Moffat also isn’t giving anything away regarding the belated and much-anticipated fourth series of  Sherlock , mainly because he himself doesn’t

• The deerstalker cap and pipe have become synonymous with Sherlock Holmes, but Doyle never mentions them in his books; they were added by illustrators and moviemakers. • "Elementary, my dear Watson" is a misquote. While Sherlock says "Elementary" and "My Dear Watson", the

famous detective never says them together in any of Doyle's novels.

FEBRUARY 2016

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