"My Collection of M's Is a Fine One" [EMPT]

This morning we were treated to the news that the major villain in the BBC's Sherlock Season 3 has been announced.  It is none other than a modern-day manifestation of Charles Augustus Milverton: Charles Augustus Magnussen.

The announcement was made by producer Sue Vertue via her Twitter account and the news immediately spread across the web. The villain will be played by Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen, who may be known to a wider audience from his role in The Killing.

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"They Took Into Partnership" [VALL]

With BBC's Sherlock and CBS' Elementary, the idea of contemporary stories and modern reinventions of the Great Detective does not seem as radical as one might perceive. However, a recent comic series by New Paradigm Studios (whose Kickstarter campaign was featured on this site, and which has been the subject of an episode of I Hear of Sherlock) reveals an extremely similar - yet similarly radical - recasting of Holmes and Watson in contemporary times.

Watson and Holmes is a series written by Karl Bollers, and drawn by Rick Leonardi, that recasts the duo's adventures in contemporary New York. However, there is a slight racial switch, as the series takes place specifically in Harlem: John Watson is a medical intern, and Sherlock Holmes is a private investigator. Although it may lack the canon-influenced snap of the BBC series - or even the more procedural aspects of CBS's efforts - Watson and Holmes sparkles with a straightforward narrative drive, having a kind of propulsiveness that characterized the best of Conan Doyle's work. There are slight nods and variations to the canon, but Bollers' writing captures the spirit (if not the letter) of canon.

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"Each of These Wore Some Scarf" [VALL]

At the PBS Masterpiece/Sherlock question-and-answer event held on May 2 in New York City that brought Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, wife and producer Sue Vertue and star Benedict Cumberbatch in close proximity to several hundred avid fans, event host and Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton asked Vertue (at about the 21:40 mark) about the rumors floating around that she had some connection to CBS’s upcoming Elementary. Mention of the show brought boos from the crowd. After Vertue dismissed any link with the American production, Eaton added, “And we don’t necessarily wish it the best, right?” Cumberbatch replied:

Well, Jonny’s a friend, you know, and as we know with the Robert Downey, Jr. franchise there’s room enough for two, so why not three? It’s fine. It’ll be different and I don’t think it will take away the love from ours and there’s no need to be churlish…about it or what they’re trying to do.

The crowd responded with applause. It was a high point for Cumberbatch in an afternoon that had quite a few for him.

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"Breaking the News" [HOUN]

BREAKING NEWS

We're pleased to announce that you can participate in a live chat with Mark Gatiss, co-creator and star of Sherlock, right here on The Baker Street Blog at 1 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 14. Details are below.

The #SherlockPBS Twitter chats are one thing, and the  PBS-hosted event in New York was another, but we think this takes things to a much higher level. The PBS Masterpiece Sherlock team are giving you an opportunity to ask questions directly to Mark Gatiss in real-time for all to see! You might consider asking him about the creative process, how he came to realize a Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century, how he collaborates with Steven Moffat, or what he thinks of playing Mycroft Holmes, the much smarter (and usually much heavier) brother of Sherlock Holmes.

In our experience with live chats, there will likely be many more questions submitted than the subject can answer, and not all of the questions may be able to be displayed, due to the rather ponderous administrative task of the moderators. But if you ask insightful and appropriate questions, we can all be the beneficiaries of them if Mark can answer.

If you'd like to be reminded of the chat, simply enter your email address in the form below and select when you'd like to be notified. And if you miss the opportunity to participate live, we'll have the transcript available in the same embedded chat below, so you can replay it at any time. And bookmark this post so you can come back on Monday to participate.

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"Back Upon the Moor Once Again" [HOUN]

#SherlockPBS is back for a second week. As you no doubt recall, Season 2 of Sherlock premiered on PBS's Masterpiece on Sunday, and evidently the ratings were quite strong, with over 3,200,000 viewers. That's a figure that more than doubles the average primetime viewership for PBS.

Even Masterpiece Exeuctive Producer Rebecca Eaton was excited to share the news when she said, "Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have taken Sherlock and Watson to a whole new level. We're thrilled that viewers have responded so enthusiastically to this groundbreaking series."

As you may recall, we participated in the live Twitter chat during the show in which we shared observations, commentary and discussion related to the characters, inspiration and other elements of "A Scandal in Belgravia." [If you missed the episode, you can still watch it on PBS online until June 15.] There were over 5,000 mentions of the #SherlockPBS hashtag on Twitter and over 15,000 people checked in via GetGlue, which is an a social TV site that connects viewers via the web (where you can earn stickers such as the image above).

On Sunday May 13, you'll be treated to Episode 2 of Season 2, titled "The Hounds of Baskerville." For those of you screaming "That should be 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'!" that's not a typo. In this case, Baskerville is a top-secret military compound where it is rumored that there are biological weapons and experimentation on genetically engineered animals, which may or may not account for "the footprints of a gigantic hound!"

You can see a preview here:

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"Awaiting the Return of Our Colleagues" [VALL]

Sherlock mania as at its heights. The second series of the BBC's Sherlock is making its way to the U.S. shores currently, and fandom online and offline is continuing to grow.

On behalf of the show, Burt made his way to New York City on May 2, 2012 for the sneak preview of the new season and question and answer time with some of the cast and crew of Sherlock, including Rebecca Eaton, Steven Moffat, Sue Vertue and of course, Benedict Cumberbatch. About 800 people crowded into a theatre after 10,000 applied for seats, and the reaction - including screams - were reminiscent of the Beatles coming to the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s. And this is nothing new; Frank Sinatra garnered a similar reaction at the Paramount in New York City back in the 1940s. Thanks to Burt's courageous reporting, we have some clips from the event and the queue, as well as a question and answer session with the cast, in which we're able to hear and feel the excitement of the crowd.

We've witnessed the #believeinsherlock movement that arose from the BBC airing of the series and how the phenomenon has grown. We discuss a bit of that and we sing our own praises to Sherlock Holmes, in a manner of speaking.

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"Holmes For the Second Time" [ABBE]

#SherlockPBS - a "hashtag" as it's known in Twitter - is a phrase you should get used to. Because beginning on May 6, it's going to reach a fever pitch when the acclaimed series Sherlock (starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Mark Gatiss, written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss) returns to Masterpiece on PBS for its stunning second season.

This second series is expected to be even bigger than the first, as the stars have come into their own a bit and they and the series has been critically acclaimed. The second series also has the confidence of the creators, as the first was something of an experiment. Having ensured that the experimentation was indeed successful, they mined the Canon for the three most intriguing and popular stories for inspiration in season two. As Steven Moffat puts it in shorthand, this season consists of "the hound, the woman and the professor." More formally, those episodes consist of "The Hounds of Baskerville," "A Scandal in Belgravia" and "The Reichenbach Fall."

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"The Woman" [SCAN]

"In his eyes, she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex."

- 'A Scandal in Bohemia'

While you may have heard her mentioned by the name of Irene Adler, in this case, "the woman" is actually Lara Pulver and she is the interview subject on the latest episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere (Episode 41: The Woman).

Sherlock: Season Two originally aired on BBC One in January and now we're poised for it to air on PBS's Masterpiece Mystery in the United States. One of the most intriguing characters of this new series is none other than the adventuress Irene Adler, the antagonist in the first episode "A Scandal in Belgravia."

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"Hung About and Screened" [BRUC]

Would you like a chance to meet Benedict Cumberbatch, the star of the new Sherlock series? Or co-creator Steven Moffat and producer Sue Vertue?

Even better: how would you like a chance to see excerpts from the first episode in Season 2, "A Scandal in Belgravia"? Well, here's your chance.

We have a special offer from the nice folks at PBS Masterpiece (the very same people who gave us a chance to host a Twitter chat when Season One aired in October of 2011) have presented to us and we in turn present to you. We hope that you'll be able to take the time to share this news and participate in this offer for "super fans."

Click image to enlarge

Masterpiece and PBS are hosting an evening event in New York City on Wednesday, May 2, celebrating the premiere of Sherlock, Series 2. There are limited tickets to this public event, but PBS would like you to have the chance to attend! RSVP's will only be taken via e-mail, so get your note in and please feel free to spread the word.

In case you're not convinced, here's a video clip of what you may expect to see:

Watch Sherlock Season 2: A Scene from Ep. 1 on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

And for those of you who are really into the show, here's an opportunity to lock in a pre-order of Sherlock: Season Two (price guaranteed) from Amazon.

When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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Pre-order Sherlock: Season Two:

"The Protection of the Law Against an Old Rival" [STUD]

The casting of Lucy Liu as Doctor Joan Watson in CBS’s upcoming pilot "Elementary"  is exciting buzz, pro and con, on the internet. This gives us Sherlockians an entryway into the creation of a television show whose source material we know better that the producers (probably, let’s give them some benefit of the doubt), and the ability to speculate on future content based on innate knowledge of American TV tropes.

Of course, "Elementary" is not the first show to be based on a successful British counterpart. If we go back to the 1970s, "All in the Family" was based on the British sitcom "Till Death Do Us Part" . "All in the Family" (incidentally on CBS) broke new ground by having comedic episodes dealing in race, the Vietnam War, rape, abortion, women’s lib, and many facets human sexuality in frank language. I believe it was the first time on US television that the sound of a flushing toilet was used as a punch line. It ran from 1971 to 1979, was the number one rated TV show for many of those years, and had a number of successful spinoffs, including: "Archie Bunker’s Place", "The Jeffersons", and "Maude". There are other US remakes that could be mentioned, but the point is redoing a British TV show is not an inherently bad idea.

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"Elementary" [CROO]

     "Excellent!" I cried.
     "Elementary," said he.

Of course, any Sherlockian considering him or herself worthy of the name knows that one particular instance in "The Crooked Man" is the only time Mr. Sherlock Holmes uses the word “elementary” in that context. Never in the canon does he actually say “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

Nevertheless, it appears that CBS has hit upon the entirely original idea of updating the Sherlock Holmes stories for the modern day, and will title this show, ahem, Elementary.

Deadline is reporting that CBS has greenlit a pilot that would air in 2012 and would transport the Victorian detective to 21^st century New York.

This news comes, unsurprisingly, after the success of the second series of BBC’s Sherlock, as well as Guy Ritchie’s recent sequel, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.

As Holmes would also say, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data” [SCAN] and so far, data is drastically lacking about this upcoming series. Aside from the screenwriter - Robert Doherty - nothing is yet known, making any speculation about the quality of the series difficult. One hopes, however, that the script and acting will transcend the title and be something rather than “elementary.” 

Anastasia writes at The Itinerant Bookworm. This is her first contribution to the Baker Street Blog.
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"Would You Be Afraid to Sleep in the Same Room with a Lunatic..." [VALL]

Viewers in the UK were treated last night to the latest episode of BBC Sherlock's second season, arguably the most anticipated Sherlockian adaptation in years and certainly one of television's most popular dramas. The well-received "Hounds of Baskerville," with a clever--occasionally frenetically clever--script by Mark Gatiss, followed in "A Scandal in Belgravia's" footsteps with cunning modern twists to the traditional canon.

Henry Knight, as played by Russell Tovey, is one of the series' most affecting clients to date, playing a young man whose father was murdered before his eyes upon the moors--slain by, he believes, a gigantic hound. Is the monster, now a thriving local tourist attraction, the mutant product of a nearby secret military lab by the name of Baskerville? Or is Knight the victim of a series of hallucinogenic delusions? Sherlock and John travel to Dartmoor to discover the truth, and experience a number of terrifying impediments in their quest.

Benedict Cumberbatch, who was just named by the Telegraph as the greatest Sherlock Holmes of all time, begins the episode manic and off-balanced--wielding a harpoon and covered in blood, having just taken the tube home, in a satisfying nod to BLAC and the benefits of exercise before breakfast. He is desperate for brainwork and for cigarettes, chewing the wallpaper in ways that called to my mind Brett's animated interpretation rather than the very still, contained Sherlock of season one. But he soon settles into the case, with John--whose opportunity to pull rank at a military base is gut-deep satisfying--at his side, pursuing an elusive horror that in every way tests each man's mettle.

Gatiss's sly references to canon are interwoven effortlessly; a village scene in which Sherlock attempts to draw out the local hound expert by telling John he's lost a bet is a perfect replica of the exchange with the goose vendor in BLUE, right down to the "pink 'un" in his back pocket. Sherlock's reference to John as a "conductor of light" will not go unnoticed by a single enthusiast, to my mind, and the arc of the story as regards Sherlock adapting to the unnatural (for him) sensations of both fear and friendship is deftly executed.

Martin Freeman's John Watson strikes a phenomenal balance between loyalty and an unwillingness to deal with weapons-grade Sherlock snark. "Oh, please," he sighs after a Holmesian deduction, "can we not do this, this time? You being all mysterious with your...cheekbones, and turning your coat collar up so you look cool?" His grounded, wry John is a phenomenal counterpart to our hero, and in some ways this episode is laying the groundwork for the next installment; with a title like "The Reichenbach Fall," Sherlockian hearts will doubtless crack worldwide come this time next Sunday.

There is a transcript of the thoughtful Q&A on the episode with Gatiss, Cumberbatch, and Sue Vertue, though spoiler warnings do apply here.

For Europeans, pre-ordering season two is as simple as the click of a button. As for season one, if you haven't yet obtained it, then what are you doing here?

Image credit: andiezoe (Flickr)

When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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"He Has a European Fame" [REDC]

If you reside in the U.K., then you undoubtedly tuned in on January 1 for the BBC's airing of the long-anticipated second season of the popular and acclaimed series "Sherlock," which is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon.co.uk (for European-compatible DVD players only).

By all accounts, we're off to another solid start with the first episode, "A Scandal in Belgravia," in which Irene Adler is portrayed as a dominatrix to royalty. It had to be a little saucier than simply a photograph in this day and age, and some sexual peccadilloes would seem to fit the bill this time around.

We've been fortunate enough to see the episode and we're satisfied that the series will again be a success. It opens where last season left off, with Jim Moriarty taunting Holmes and Watson poolside until he's distracted by a more important issue. Back in Baker Street again, we see a parade of clients coming through the sitting room and Watson dutifully chronicling the interesting cases on his blog, with titles such as "The Geek Interpreter," which involves a trio of misfits whose comic book tales are coming to life and "The Speckled Blonde," in which a female corpse showed no cause of death other than some spots all over her body.

The two get into a spat about whose web site is more popular - Watson's, that attracts new clients, or Holmes's, that enumerates 240 (note the increase by 100) varieties of tobacco ash. Lestrade calls them "an internet phenomenon," after which the press are seen snapping photos and noting the attraction of "Hat-Man and Robin." In a funny aside, a number of times, Holmes gets flustered about Watson's blog counter being stuck at 1895...

The two are summoned to none other than Buckingham Palace for a client (rather than royalty coming to Baker Street) and find that Irene Adler has some compromising photographs of one of the members of the royal family. As a dominatrix, she routinely blackmails her clients, but in this case, she has the photos for "insurance." Holmes and Watson make a raid on her flat in Belgravia in a scene reminiscent of the kind old clergyman finding his way into Briony Lodge.

We'll leave the synopsis at that for now, as the full 90-minute episode held many twists and turns, with appearances by Mrs. Hudson and quite a bit of Mycroft again. The ending was...well, we won't spoil it. :-)

This first episode was quite well done and really ties to the overall arc of the series, as we can see it developing.

If you're in Europe, you may pre-order season 2 of the BBC series "Sherlock" here. No word on U.S.-compatible availability at this time. We'll be ready and waiting when the U.S. premiere happens. And if you haven't yet purchased season 1, what are you waiting for?

When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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"You Will Find That the Clips Are Too" [GOLD]

The BBC series "Sherlock" is making is second series run on BBC One this holiday season.

If you missed the first one (viewed in the United States on Masterpiece Mystery), you're in for a real treat. The series takes the original stories and characters and updates them for the 21st century. Watson is returning from Afghanistan (strange how some conflicts never end) and Holmes is an oddity of a consulting/science machine that lives alone in Baker Street. The two share rooms and Watson is there to chronicle Holmes's cases (albeit with Dr. Watson's Blog rather than the Strand Magazine). And instead of chemical retorts and tobacco ash research, Holmes relies on GPS and his iPhone, among other devices.

Lest you thumb your nose at such a modernization of the character, o traditional Sherlock Holmes fan, let us remind you that the Basil Rathbone series was almost, in its entirety, set in modern-day England. This new series manages to update the stories while paying proper respect to the stories from which inspired it. The co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are each students of the Canon.

Here we have a two-video playlist of clips from the upcoming season.

The episodes should be truly excellent, with titles like "A Scandal in Belgravia," "The Hounds of Baskerville," and "The Reichenbach Fall," all clearly taken from "A Scandal in Bohemia," The Hound of the Baskervilles and "The Final Problem."

Have you seen the first series? What are your expectations from the second? Let us know in a comment here on the site.

When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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"Pushing Another One in My Direction" [STUD]

Move over, Sherlock. Make room for Sherlock Holmes.

CBS has evidently seen the furor caused by the Robert Downey, Jr. film and more importantly, the television series from the BBC.

The Tiffany network's attempt is being described as "a modern take on the cases of the pipe-smoking private eye created by Arthur Conan Doyle." It will be written by Rob Doherty and produced by Samantha Timberman and Carl Beverly. No word yet on the timing.

As Holmes himself said,

"There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before."

And clearly, Sherlock creator Stephen Moffat thought the same:

What do you make of this announcement? More good material for Sherlockians, or a lame effort to benefit from the success of a similar show on the BBC?


Incidentally, for those of you who crave a CBS Eye-inspired magnifying glass (pictured above), you can get one in sterling silver with a sapphire teardrop for the low price of £920 from 20ltd.

We've previously covered the BBC version here:

• "The Rooms at No. 221B, Baker Street" [STUD]
• "Something More Modern" [HOUN]

When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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"His Head Girt with Bloody Bandages" [ILLU]

BREAKING: We're all familiar with sight of Holmes appearing with his head bandaged, standing in a triumphant manner before Baron Gruner in "The Illustrious Client."

But now we have news that our more recent Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch, is being shown as bloody and being rushed to the hospital.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the filming was taking place for the upcoming second season of Sherlock, which you may recall last saw Holmes meeting his archenemy Professor Moriarty face to face at St. Bart's Hospital. The scenes reported in the Daily Mail took place 70 feet up on the roof of the building being used as the hospital, when Sherlock fell (or was pushed?) off the roof to the street below. According to the paper:

Pictures taken on set of the new series, due for broadcast this autumn, show actor Benedict Cumberbatch with a bloody head as he is put on a stretcher and taken away by paramedics.

And here you can see one of the images:

Screen capture of the Daily Mail website.

What will become of Sherlock in this next season? Will we see him return to active practice after such a devastating injury? We've seen it before in "The Illustrious Client" and "The Dying Detective." But since this particular episode, titled "A Scandal in Belgravia" is based on "A Scandal in Bohemia," we'll simply point out what happened to the non-conformist clergyman when he was "injured" by the crowd at Briony Lodge...


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"Name of Leslie" [MISS]

During the #Sherlock_PBS chat on Sunday evening, there was also a West coast feed. We would be remiss if we did not mention the rather impressive individual behind that. It was none other than our own Leslie Klinger, BSI, 2s ("The Abbey Grange"), tweeting as @lklinger.

Les's achievements in the Sherlockian and literary world are impressive in their own right - even more so when one discovers that he's a practicing lawyer by day. Les is the author of not one, but two of the most impressive pieces of research on Sherlock Holmes: The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (divided into sets: Short Stories and Novels) and the 10-volume Sherlock Holmes Reference Library. He joined forces with S.E. Dahlinger to edit and annotate Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle & the Bookman, available from Wessex Press. In addition, Les branched out from his Sherlockian roots (although sticking with the Victorian) when he wrote The New Annotated Dracula. If you'd like to see the full line of his work, you can check his Author Page on Amazon.

Les also holds the role of General Editor of the Baker Street Irregulars' publishing efforts: the History Series, Manuscript Series and International Series. All are available for sale on the Baker Street Journal website.

Below you'll find a reverse chronology (sorry, it's the way Twitter search works) of the stream of commentary and 140-character "annotations" Les made while watching the new series "Sherlock" starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Freeman, written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat. Enjoy the transcript!

If you've made it this far, congratulations! And you'll be pleased to know that Les and I have been invited back by PBS to host another chat this Sunday evening as well. You'll be able to join us again on the Tweetgrid set up at http://is.gd/fZxDB.

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"More to Me Than the Twitter" [ILLU]

Last night marked the U.S. premiere of "Sherlock" on PBS's Masterpiece MYSTERY! and it was marked by a first for the Sherlockian community: a live Twitter chat during which online followers would watch and participate in commentary about the show.

We were honored to have been asked by PBS to act as one of the hosts for the evening. We used our Twitter handle @BakerStreetBlog and employed the #sherlock_pbs "hashtag" so that people who are not following certain Twitter accounts have a single phrase to follow. This allows for a broader distribution of the conversation.

Other hosts for the evening included PBS's staff as @masterpiecepbs and Andrew Giulli as @strandmag, and we addressed questions, made observations, and kept the pace going for everyone involved.

And there was plenty of conversation to go around! Here's a quick graphic of the volume of conversation (over 1,500 tweets in less than 90 minutes):

If you're interested in seeing a transcript of the entire chat, you can pull it up from http://wthashtag.com/sherlock_pbs by following this link. For us, part of the allure was how the updated version tied to the original stories. There were not only clear homages, but almost literal lifts as well. Here are but a few.

When Holmes showed he was wearing nicotine patches, he remarked "It is quite a three-patch problem."

After seeing Holmes and Watson chasing down a cab by taking short-cuts through alleys, this original quote came to mind:

And when the suspect showed Holmes how he gave his victims a choice of pills to consume:

In addition to the quotes and other obvious tie-ins ("A Study in Pink" vs. A Study in Scarlet), there were other elements that we thought were particularly clever and spot on for a 21st century Sherlock Holmes:

• The use of texting as a modern proxy for Holmes's proclivity for telegrams ("he has never been known to write when a telegram would serve" [DEVI]).
• Using Watson's phone rather than his pocket watch to deduce things about his life.
• The way Holmes's thought process was superscripted on the screen as he made his quick observations. It gave the audience as sense as to what the observations were, which made the later explanations more context.
• The relationship between Holmes and Watson begins to blossom - from standoffish at first, to more friend-like toward the end of the episode.
• Mycroft's appearance and position within the government (although this Mycroft has lost a significant bit of weight - which the character references in the episode).

The evening was a fast-paced one (and we were glad that we were able to screen the episode prior to the airdate, in order to prepare for the session). At this point, we're not sure if we'll be repeating this on October 31, but stay tuned. But we're certainly looking forward to seeing the series unfold and at the same time, we're hoping that we introduced a few new people to The Baker Street Journal, the Sherlock Holmes Social Network, the podcast I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, and our own blog.

And if you'd like to pick up a copy of the DVD on Amazon as a holiday gift for the Sherlock Holmes fan in your life, we'd appreciate it if you order through us. Just use the links in this post or the Amazon links in the sidebar on the blog here.

Please consider visiting our sponsors in the right column and footer from time to time. It helps defray the costs associated with running this site.