BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Find the original & post other nods to the canon (merged topic)

**Posted by ImaSherlockGirl** July 31, 2012 4:59 am

veecee wrote:
ImaSherlockGirl wrote:
veecee wrote:
Yeah, good one. I notice the "hello," but didn't make the connection.
I think I'm missing something here...not sure I understand the reference. Help?
Billy is Sherlock's "page." Who knew they still used that term in ACD's time? Anyway, he helps Sherlock after Watson has moved on and doesn't see Sherlock so much any more. At least, that's how I remember it.

Ahh, makes sense now...thanks veecee!

**Posted by ImaSherlockGirl** July 31, 2012 5:01 am

kazza474 wrote:
ImaSherlockGirl wrote:
Okay, not sure I have the hang of the canon thing yet so I don't know if this will count, but here goes...

Early in chapter 2 of "A Study in Scarlet", Watson writes ...be it remembered how objectless was my life and how little there was to engage my attention. ...and I had no friends who would call upon me and break the monotony of my daily existence.

In "The Reichenbach Fall", at the grave yard, John says, I was so alone.
Yes, you have 'the hang of the canon thing".

Thanks, kazza! Off to see what else I can find as I'm reading!

**Posted by Lupin** July 31, 2012 7:12 am

Probably mentioned already but in A Scandal in Bohemia, Sherlock pretends to be a clergyman who gets hit in a fight defending Ms. Adler. in need of lying down on her couch, he has Watson create smoke so that Irene Adler reveals the location of the photograph of her and the king.

Also probably already mentioned but 1895, the views the blog is stuck on, is the year The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes was published, which contains The Final Problem.

Last edited by Lupin (August 2, 2012 2:02 am)

**Posted by rob k** August 2, 2012 6:43 pm

rob k wrote:
rob k wrote:
Quote: Lestrade's first name is never given in the canon. UnQuote.

My reply:

Quite true! And yet we know that his first name is, in fact "Joseph."

Anybody know how it is that we know this?

rob k
Surprised no one has risen to the bait. Who is Joseph Lestrade?

I guess no one cares about "Joseph Lestrade," which, of course is your privilege, so I will explain why Lestrade's first name is Joseph, after which you may care even less. ;-)

From Wikipedia,

Inspector G. Lestrade or Mr. Lestrade is a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student by the name of Joseph Alexandre Lestrade.

And whence the G? Well, obviously, ACD while growing up, was taught to spell phonetically. Knowing that "George" and "Goseph" both sound the same, he assumed they were spelled the same. And if you believe that, I have for sale a bridge that crosses the East River in New York. ;-)

rob k

**Posted by Lupin** August 3, 2012 8:19 am

I'm sure this has also been pointed out already but in The Hounds of Baskerville, Watson sees flashing headlights he mistakes for Morse code. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Watson sees morse code that turns out to be unrelated to the threat to Henry Baskerville. This is a more believable analogue to the original red-herring.

Also in The Blind Banker, Sherlock tells Molly at the cafeteria he doesn't eat while working because digestion slows me down. That's a nod to The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone, where Sherlock tells Watson:

"Because the faculties become refined when you starve them. Why, surely, as a doctor, my dear Watson, you must admit that what your digestion gains in the way of blood supply is so much lost to the brain. I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix. Therefore, it is the brain I must consider."

Also in Scandal, at the beginning Holmes asks John what the name of a case they solved would be for the blog and John says "The Naval Treatment", a reference to "The Naval Treaty"

Last edited by Lupin (August 8, 2012 10:59 pm)

**Posted by deerstalker** August 14, 2012 5:17 am

Not sure if that's been mentioned, but:
in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" Watson says about Sherlock: "He has never been known to write when a telegram would serve" . That has such a fun transposition to modern times when Sherlock says he prefers to text rather than use a phone. Brevity and clarity is Holmes's preferred way of communicating, whatever the time period.

**Posted by tobeornot221b** October 17, 2012 5:18 pm

German thoroughness..
Thank you! Hopefully, you had lots of fun finding all those references.
Going by the left-over material, there's nothing to stop them from writing even beyond a fourth season.

**Posted by besleybean** October 17, 2012 5:20 pm

There is, but they also use a story more than once!

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** October 17, 2012 5:38 pm

They also said that "everything" is canon, so anything from any screen, stage, TV, radio adaptations they might take snippets of and use them.

Anyway, I read this on another board and thought it was quite a neat idea. At the end of Reichenbach when Sherlock puts his arm out and says "stay exactly where you are" "don't come any closer" etc etc...

It's like the scene in The Dying Detective when he tells Watson not to come any closer - because he knows that Watson, as a Doctor, might suss out he's not really ill...just like Sherlock doesn't want John to realise he's faking it in Reichenbach.

**Posted by besleybean** October 17, 2012 5:40 pm

Good point...so looking forward to the resolution.

**Posted by veecee** October 17, 2012 6:33 pm

tobeornot221b wrote:
German thoroughness..
Thank you! Hopefully, you had lots of fun finding all those references.
Going by the left-over material, there's nothing to stop them from writing even beyond a fourth season.

I've wondered about this, actually, Although the casual nods via "The Speckled Blonde" and "Geek Interpretor" were both fun and clever, will the writers/creatorswish they had saved those stories for more extensive use?

**Posted by besleybean** October 17, 2012 6:36 pm

Mark Gatiss has publically stated that he definitely wants to see a snake in BBC Sherlock!

**Posted by Morton** October 19, 2012 10:25 pm

SHERLOCK HOLMES A DRAMA IN FOUR ACTS By ACD and William Gillette

MORIARTY: All that I have to say has already crossed your mind.
HOLMES: My answer thereto has already crossed yours.

Also features Moriarty as a cab driver.

Holmes telegraphs to Watson: “Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same.� In The Creeping Man

THE FIELD BAZAAR published in the University of Edinburgh’s student newspaper, The Student, 1896.

Holmes to Watson “You will not, I am sure, be offended if I say that any reputation for sharpness which I may possess has been entirely gained by the admirable foil which you have made for me. Have I not heard of debutantes who have insisted on plainness in their chaperones?�

Sherlock to the Equerry “A good coat and a short friend� in Scandal in Belgravia

ANDERSON, is the village constable. In Adventure of the Lion's Mane

SALLY DENNIS is a fictitious name made up by Joseph Strangerson in Study in Scarlet

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** October 22, 2012 12:48 pm

veecee wrote:
tobeornot221b wrote:
German thoroughness..
Thank you! Hopefully, you had lots of fun finding all those references.
Going by the left-over material, there's nothing to stop them from writing even beyond a fourth season.
I've wondered about this, actually, Although the casual nods via "The Speckled Blonde" and "Geek Interpretor" were both fun and clever, will the writers/creatorswish they had saved those stories for more extensive use?

They might have used variations on the titles, but they haven't used anything of the storylines. There's nothing to stop them altering them slightly then still using them.

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** November 6, 2012 8:49 am

Swanpride wrote:
Yeah, but for "The speckled blonde" they actually wrote up the case for the blog, and it was devinitly based on "The speckled band".

True. But Moffat has said he wouldn't rule out doing it, or at least some aspects of it...as it's his favourite one.

**Posted by tobeornot221b** November 23, 2012 6:34 pm

TRF, from the press conference in Scotland Yard:

**Posted by horserider99** November 23, 2012 9:10 pm

I don't know if this is the right thread or if this has already been thrown out there yet, but the houseboy in The Great Game has a play of words on the name of the houseboy in The Sign of Four - His name is Raoul in the show and Lal Rao in the canon. (I noticed this while reading on Wednesday at an appointment )

Last edited by horserider99 (November 23, 2012 10:22 pm)

**Posted by besleybean** November 23, 2012 9:16 pm

Well done!

**Posted by Davina** November 23, 2012 9:52 pm

Blimey! That was observant! Well done you!

**Posted by holmes23** December 31, 2012 3:29 pm

Whenever I watch Sherlock at the abduction scene of the children in TRF, I am reminded of the following passage from the third chapter of SIGN

"As I watched him I was irresistibly reminded of a pure-blooded, well-trained foxhound, as it dashes backward and forward through the covert, whining in its eagerness, until it comes across the lost scent." and,
" In one place he gathered up very carefully a little pile of gray dust from the floor, and packed it away in an envelope."

But the passage that precedes it, is quite different.

Last edited by holmes23 (December 31, 2012 4:15 pm)