Mnemosyne wrote:

(not everyone is a nice, middle-class eccentric around here... although I fit into that category rather nicely.)
 

Speaking of class, how would you class the following characters based on the new system (or a more pertinent system, if you prefer, but please explain it to the non-Brits):

Sherlock
John
Lestrade
Molly
Mrs. Hudson
 

errrr. I think this is quite debated actually. 

What complicates it is that I'd say that the class system is a lot more fluid in London anyway, with a lot more mobility than elsewhere. Also, there's a kind of London mishmash accent which they all use to an extent. Lestrade, for example, sounds like he's using estury English (I think he might be aiming for cockney) which could place him anywhere in London really.

I think the standard answer would be

Sherlock - upper/ruling class. Not sure he's originally a Londoner.
John - middle middle class, possibly working class made good. Prob not a Londoner-somewhere more southern, I think. 
Lestrade -middle middle class, possibly working class made good. Londoner but probably south London.
Molly - probably ex private school/oxbridge or a redbrick uni so some kind of nice middle class, not a Londoner but a southerner
Mrs. Hudson- not sure. Londoner definately, with the only other option I can see being Brighton
. 
I've said before, I am not sure this is right. I think both Sherlock and John may not have the backgrounds we assume from their accent. John in particular has mysteriously no family, no referencces to family (aside from his sister). Most doctors have parents who are doctors but you don't get that sense with him. 

Last edited by beekeeper (April 9, 2013 9:17 am)

yk, there is something very rootless about John. I've wondered if he was orphaned/ abandoned pretty young. He and his sister do seem reasonably screwed up, tbh and only seem to have each other. He's young, at around 40, to have no parents.

Last edited by beekeeper (April 10, 2013 6:09 pm)

MNRebecca wrote:

May I just say, the way this series absolutely CRAMS you with wondering about the characters' psyches and backstories is what makes it such a stupendous show.

We can pull some information from the original stories, but the writers play with canon - reversing it, combining it, updating it - so much that we can't rely on it.  But I think they're quite meticulous about the characters as they've envisioned them, and it's those little details that make the show.
 

Their accents seem the same as real life to me. Just look at some of the interviews to hear them as themselves