BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Dress code at Christmas

**Posted by maryagrawatson** June 20, 2014 2:20 pm

I rewatched parts of HLV last night and only just realised that Mummy Holmes apparently had a dress code for the event -- wear red or green. Some characters took that to the extreme and wore red and green (Mary, John, and most hilariously, Mycroft). Mummy's in red, father has a red bow tie, and even Sherlock was deign to wear a dark green shirt.

I just love little details like this that take us back to earlier throwaway lines, in this case the one in SIP about what Christmas dinners were like at the Holmes' residence. It's obvious in the HLV Christmas scene that the boys very much kowtow to their mummy and that their complaints are for show.

Watching the Christmas scenes, I get the sense of a much less dysfunctional childhood for Mycroft and Sherlock than many fans have theorized and that the Holmes' are a tightknit family that might not get together that often (mummy and father obviously travel a lot), but that there is love and respect and understanding between the members.

I doubt we'll get more of mummy and father in series 4, but I'd love to get more hints like these about Sherlock and Mycroft's back story.

Mary

**Posted by tobeornot221b** June 20, 2014 2:53 pm

The classic red/green in HLV imo is necessary to make Christmas time more believable for the viewers. Just look how it looks outside the house - everything's thick with green leaves. No wonder - they shot HLV in August...To create an impression of Christmas you just have to light a fire in the fireplace, let someone put logs in it, hand the guests glasses with a fluid that looks like punch, hang up fairy lights - and dress all the family and guests in red and green. That's it.
Even better would be: You let it snow like they did in ASiB (dress code: blue and red). But this time it couldn't work because when Sherlock and John are whisked away by the helicopter it's clearly visible that it isn't winter. They would have needed thousands of tons of snow to create a winter impression.

**Posted by maryagrawatson** June 20, 2014 3:06 pm

Could have been a green Christmas. I've had many of those here in Canada in places where the snow is normally very deep in winter, so a green English Christmas is not at unbelievable to me, and neither is a warm one (the Christmas where appropriate attire was shorts and tee-shirts is still legendary in my family).

Ben sold me on the idea that it was winter in the scene just before Mycroft says, "Your loss would break my heart," when Sherlock wraps his coat tightly around himself. We see him do that three times in series three, once in each episode, and I wonder if there's any significance to it, but that could be the subject of another thread.

Back to the dress code, we've never seen the green shirt before, so I am convinced that he went out and bought it just for the party. I love how he obeyed the letter of mummy's instructions, but not the spirit, going with a very dark colour. Just enough compliance for mummy to be pleased, but not so much that it looks like he cares about her silly little gathering.

Mary

**Posted by tobeornot221b** June 20, 2014 3:12 pm

maryagrawatson wrote:
Ben sold me on the idea that it was winter in the scene just before Mycroft says, "Your loss would break my heart," when Sherlock wraps his coat tightly around himself. We see him do that three times in series three, once in each episode, and I wonder if there's any significance to it, but that could be the subject of another thread.Mary

Yes, Ben can sell anything to me, too. But sometimes "I'm cold" (THoB) is just an excuse for putting his coat collar up in order to look cool.

**Posted by Mattlocked** June 20, 2014 3:49 pm

"Green christmas", well.... we have it quite often around here. But then all the trees are green, too.
Except some bigger ones without leaves which appear in some scenes from time to time... and right now I start wondering if they've put them there to make it more believable. Also they seem to have used a colour filter of some sort.