At my age, trust me I have seen a wide variety of shows. I do adore a good 'old' horror story ; what they have these days just makes me laugh, honestly.
And the whole vampire thing, it's a bit romanticised for my liking.

As for Dr Who, nope. I did my 'time' at having to watch that stuff when my older brother watched it many moon ago. He doesn't just 'watch' something he retells it over & over again. So really there is no way I am gonna even try to watch that stuff.

I've just realised I haven't said anything here...

Well, as for minor characters, I love Anthea in ASiP; she is all mysterious and gorgeous and distant and poor John trying to make her notice he exists. I love that. The moment at the end when John says "we met earlier this evening" and she goes... "oh!". It always makes me laugh.
I like also Amanda, in TBB (Olivia Poulet). Small scenes, but probably some of the nicest of the episode. And of course, in Hounds I loved Gary and Billy, the innkeepers. And I agree that the actress playing Kitty Riley felt very unconvincing.

I really don't consider Anderson and Donovan as minor characters. Of course they're not main characters, but they have recurring roles. Anyway, both Robinson and Aris are fantastic.

kazza474 wrote:

I don't think I was all that impressed by any particular minor character actually.
One I really didn't think did a very good job at all was Katherine Parkinson who played Kitty Riley.
Yes Kitty was not a 'nice' person and was basically stupid but the actress did not do anything 'good' in her portrayal. I just found her whole time on screen 'wimpy'. The lines delivered at her flat were sick. "not a West End part but I bet it paid well" stuck in my throat. She missed the whole meaning to it for me.

ugh, I cannot even describe what I think, it was just boringly bad.

I agree 100%. Wimpy would be the most apt term for Kitty Riley. She comes off as trying too hard.

Btw, in the credits for ASIP, someone is listed as "Ella". But I don't remember seeing someone named Ella. Who is she?

Last edited by jimella (June 15, 2012 10:52 am)

So many of the minor roles in Sherlock are perfectly cast. Here are two that really stand out for me:

Soo Lin (Gemma Chan). She was such a lovely, tragic figure in the show - the epitome of grace and beauty and dedication. I was actually pissed off at John for leaving her alone in the museum basement to die while he ran off to help Sherlock upstairs.  She didn't deserve her fate. Someone should have saved her 



Young Corporal Lyons in Hound (Will Sharpe). To me he was the perfect example of all the young, fresh-faced recruits who have the huge responsibility of defending our country when they're barely old enough to shave.  I thought the actor who played him was spot on.  The kid was smart, competent, and well-trained, but just inexperienced enough to let John fool him. Perfect!

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If you have your own favorites please chime in.  These talented people should be recognized!

i agree that Soo Lin's death was the more brutal because she never really had a chance, no one defending her. An interesting script choice.

AliceI wrote:

My favorite minor character so far I think would be Henry Knight played by Russell Tovey in HoB. That character stood out to me a very genuine. I loved his flip out down in the hollow when the "Hound" turned up scaring the beegeebiz out of Lestrade, John, and everyone else.

Of note: Isn't it interesting that the trained police officer Lestrade shot at the Hound twice and missed twice and John Watson shot at it twice hitting it both times. That always stuck out to me.

Still no disrespect to Lestrade intended. He is my 4th favorite charcater. I do love his snark and his wisdom.

I read an interview with Russell Tovey in which he said that he wanted to give Henry dignity - as in yes, he was f**d up, but he didn't want to invite pity.  I think he did that very well.  I've been reading 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', and it's rather genius the way the writers and Tovey interpreted the original Sir Henry.  (Actually, there is a lot in the story that's fun to read after having seen the Moftiss modernisation.)

And I love Lestrade, too - he had me in the first episode, with 'Don't commit suicide.'
 

I´m really enjoying the "minor" roles - really appreciate the Moftiss have chosen really brilliant actors! 
I love Lestrade, too.
and I have a private passion for Irene´s assistant /that one who´s asking John about his New year´s plans/ 
and Louise Mortimer!

Maybe we can look at Donovan from a different angle:
She is a strong person, an intelligent woman in a working position that is dominated by men. I like her because she is straight forward and she is not afraid to risk her career when she thinks she has a point. When you work as a police detective you always have to respect hierarchy. It was quite a risk to go to the superintendent and talk about Sherlock's possible involvement knowing that Lestrade had a different opinion.
Her relationship with Sherlock is difficult. I wonder why she has so many prejudices against him. She is emotionally engaged in a certain way as if she was hurt by him. Is there a history? If Sherlock  had tried to "use" or manipulate her in the past her reaction realising this is stronger than Molly's.
Fans hate her because she calls Sherlock a freak....
But it is too easy just to put her in the same corner with Sebastian Wilkes.
And we might recognize in series 3 that she is the one who has intuitively seen Sherlock's dark side.
That's why I like her character.

I love the Anderson/ Donovan thing. I have to say I've always assumed them to be a Mulder/Scully nod but with no justifiation at all. I do especially love Donovan-heard she was in a new pilot in America and kind of evilly hoping it fails because I do love her in Sherlock. She steals every scene IMO.

Oh and I read something else into Donovan. She's a woman in a very male dominated job. The only woman we really see on the force. Along comes this guy who, tbh, just goes straight to white male Lestrade and cuts her out, in typical Boys Own club fashion. Lestrade listens to him over her. Perhaps Sherlock has put her down in the very sexist way he attacks Molly (drawing attention to her appearance).  I'd be pissed off too, I think. But she needs nothing from Sherlock, unlike Molly. She just finds it outrageous and worrying. To put it another way, she has to play by the rules, she needs the rules because the rules mean that a woman like her get listened to. I have neveri seen her as a nasty or manipulative character-she's the first to run to the missing kids and its the missing kids that make her speak to Lestrade, that's a line crossed for her. I think she's been cut out to the extent that, actually, for Sherlock to be the killer becomes a very logical conclusion-and whose fault is that?

Ok and I know this is going to be an out there one but I liked three characters from Hound. Henry Knight was awesome. But I also really liked Dr Stapleton. She was incredibly convincing as an evil ish doctor but I loved those lines when she realised she'd been taken out because her daughter had emailed Sherlock-the facade just slipped for a moment. And the other guy the older one who pretended to know Sherlock as Mycroft was amazing too.

Weird as it sounds the older woman with the bomb vest in the Great Game was really good too.
 

Last edited by beekeeper (March 31, 2013 2:04 pm)

"Young Corporal Lyons in Hound (Will Sharpe). To me he was the perfect example of all the young, fresh-faced recruits who have the huge responsibility of defending our country when they're barely old enough to shave.  I thought the actor who played him was spot on.  The kid was smart, competent, and well-trained, but just inexperienced enough to let John fool him. Perfect!"


Totally agree. I also really enjoyed Henry Knight and his "breakdown" at the end of HoB. The acting was raw, real, and engaging. Well done, Russell Tovey!