You are right. Moftiss are often criticised for their writing and yet their critics do not realise how many references to canon and skillfully constructed inside jokes are intervowen with the main action in Sherlock. They are creating the entirely new story and yet their are also very true to the original. I enjoy that immensely.
My favourite references are:
„…when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself virtuous airs. I have always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his queer humours, would sit in an armchair with his hair trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic „V. R.“ done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it.“ ACD – „The Musgrave Ritual“, the description of Sherlock´s untidy habits.
We saw most of these in BBC Sherlock too: shooting of a wall in TGG, Sherlock sticking a jack-knife into his correspondence in ASiP (when he was showing John their flat), Sherlock searching for his cigarettes in slipers in ThoB.
„There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery.“ ACD – „A Study in Scarlett“, description of John´s injury.
„I made no remark however, but sat nursing my wounded leg. I had a Jezail bullet through it some time before…“ ACD – „The Sign of Four“, another description of John´s injury, completely diferent from the previous narrative.
BBC version ingeniously blended both descriptions into one: John was shot into his hand, but has a psychosomatic limp and feels pain in his leg.
„It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or should you rather that I sent James off to bed?“ ACD – „The Man with the Twisted Lip“, Mary Morstan´s dialogue with her neighbour Katie Whitney whose junkie husband disappeared in a drug den. „James“ referred here in actually John Watson – it seems Mary doesn´t know how her husband´s called.
Sherlockians of the past were puzzled why Mary called John „James“ here. The detective writer Dorothy Sayers then came with a neat solution: the full name of John is „John H. Watson“. So H. must mean „Hamish“ which is a Scottish form of „James“. Thus, John can be called James and it wouldn´t be a mistake.
BBC not only used the name John Hamish Watson, but in TEH, Mary also received the text that asked her: „John or James?“
"Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes -- it approaches to cold-bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects.“ ACD – „A Study in Scarlett“, Stamford describing Holmes to John.
„Cofee, I made cofee“, anyone?
"Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking rather a bizarre shape."
"Beating the subjects!"
"Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him at it with my own eyes." ACD – „A Study in Scarlett“, Stamford describing Holmes to John some more. Needs no comment.
„When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you.“ ACD – „A Scandal in Bohemia“, where Mrs. Hudson is mysteriously called Mrs. Turner.
BBC Mrs. Hudson always mentions Mrs. Turner, her neighbour that has two registered gays as her lodgers, which is a cheeky inside joke. Initially, when Mrs. Hudson was writing comments on John´s blog, she was always stated as „Mrs. Turner“, because she apparently used her neighbours PC.
„Among these unfinished tales is that of Mr. James Phillimore, who, stepping back into his own house to get his umbrella, was never more seen in this world.“ ACD – „The Problem of Thor Bridge“, where John describes some Sherlock´s cases.
In BBC´s „Study in Pink“, the boy who is one of the cabbie´s victims is called James Phillimore. Last time we see him, he is returning home to fetch his umbrella.
And there are many, many more references, not just to canon, but to the original illustrations of Sidney Paget, to SH film adaptations and pastiches and even to fanfiction. Beautiful work!
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I cannot live without brainwork. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window there. Was there ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-coloured houses. What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is the use of having powers, Doctor, when one has no field upon which to exert them?
Jacco111 wrote:
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What about a Top Ten list for the favourite ones and also making a list of the least favourites?
