10 Incredible Similarities Between Doctor Who And Sherlock

6. The "Anti-Sitcom-Hero" Elements

Before the TARDIS, Scotland Yard, Trenzalore, Tintin, both Jekyll and Hyde, quitting Twitter and being asked in every interview, "How did Sherlock live?", Steven Moffat was a sitcom writer. He wrote about the flaws and annoyances between the sexes in Coupling €“ something he'd explore more in Who and Sherlock €“ and it's a very British trait to write comedy characters as anti-heroes. Just look at Blackadder, constantly belittling Baldrick, or Arkwright, always mean and stingy to his nephew Granville. Moffat plays the Doctor in this way, too. "Plus, she's a woman," Eleven says, explaining River's mood swings in 'Let's Kill Hitler', before replying "Oh, shut up, I'm dying!" to Amy's unimpressed expression. A joke considered extremely misogynistic by some, the joke is actually on the Doctor: he's rude, then excuses himself for it because he's dying. That's pretty dark, but a similar joke is made in 'The Bells of Saint John' when a monk crosses his chest at the mention of a woman: the joke is on the monk's inexperience with girls. The joke is on ignorance. You can see it in Sherlock, every time he undermines John: the joke is on how rude and unsociable someone so clever can be. We don't laugh at Sherlock insulting Anderson because we don't like Anderson €“ we have no reason to dislike Anderson €“ we laugh because Sherlock's being childish in an investigation. And this sort of humour can rub people up the wrong way when it's used in drama. People assume that Moffat and Gatiss are sending out a message that it's okay to be rude if their lead characters do it. What they're trying to show is that their heroes are people we can laugh at. It's a very British trait in comedy, to laugh at heroes and not with them €“ just look David Brent from the Office.