Sherlock Series 4: 5 Stories Moffat And Gatiss Should Avoid

There are sixty stories in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes canon, yet, beside the odd extracted element or plot device here and there, the BBC's critically acclaimed Sherlock series has thus far only brought nine of them to the screen. Nine slick, fast-paced adaptations of the classics, starring the blisteringly popular Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson (or Sherlock and John). Writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are certainly liberal with their modern day retellings, but the discerning Doyle fan remains aware of their respect for the source material and so far the pair have been wise in their choice of stories, never straying too far from the most beloved, high quality and exciting portions of the canon. But as Moffat and Gatiss plough briskly through the most renowned narrative points of the original stories (Sherlock and John's meeting, the emergence of Moriarty, Sherlock's death and resurrection and John's marriage to Mary Morstan), like the kid who eats all his favourite Quality Street chocolates first, they are fast approaching the stage where only the lesser stories will remain (the hard toffees, as it were). No doubt this will be the point where their own creative minds will take centre stage, but if they insist on continuing to adapt Doyle's works, here are some of the not-so-classic Sherlock Holmes stories they should probably avoid. 100 year old spoilers will be revealed, so heed the spoiler warning...