When Gatiss and Moffat first pitched Sherlock, they talked a lot about "blowing away the fog" from the original stories. They felt that Holmes adaptations had become too obsessed with their Victorian trappings, such as deerstalkers, hansom cabs, opium dens and of course fog, and wanted to renew people's interest in the stories by putting them in a contemporary setting. This was a brilliant idea, but now the series has developed trappings of its own which are beginning to get in the way of the stories. There's no denying that Sherlock is a unique visual take on Doyle's character, which has helped to significantly re-popularise Holmes for the modern day. It makes sense that Holmes would be extremely tech-savvy, that Watson would keep a blog rather than a journal, and that Moriarty would behave in the way that he does. But we're now at a point where the visual acrobatics are prized as highly as the drama, and that's not a comfortable place to be. The mind palace scene in The Hounds of Baskerville was dramatically significant and a good means of explaining a plot point; the equivalent scene in The Sign of Three undercut the drama and robbed us of valuable time. While Gatiss and Moffat are clearly huge fans of Doyle's stories, they seem to have less confidence in the stories than they do in their style of retelling them. Like many shows before it (Doctor Who included), the show needs to evolve its visual style to match the demands of Doyle's stories and keep the drama of the cases at the very centre. If it can do that, series four could and should be something very special. --- Disagree with my recommendations? Drop me a comment below or visit Mumby at the Movies for film reviews and much, much more...
Freelance copywriter, film buff, community radio presenter. Former host of The Movie Hour podcast (http://www.lionheartradio.com/ and click 'Interviews'), currently presenting on Phonic FM in Exeter (http://www.phonic.fm/). Other loves include theatre, music and test cricket.
