Imagine the most dank, creepy, dark cell in the deepest dungeon in England. Now, imagine a man admired worldwide being chained, as to be unable to leave the small confinement, where even his impeccable skills in deduction cannot save him. Yes, you guessed it. The prisoner is none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous character, Sherlock Holmes.
See, they have to lock up Sherlock because (as several people put it in writing below) the BBC has worked too hard to have the US ruin the character!! Below are a few comments from the jailers er some posts/comments in response to the Anglophenia article:
“I think Benedict has every right to say what he said – Sherlock was a labour of love for everyone on set, and to have an American company siphon off its success has to be upsetting.”
“BBC’s Sherlock Holmes version with Benedict Cumberbatch is the best. Cumberbatch is the quintessential Holmes. I seriously doubt that Johnny Lee Miller can do any justice with the role as Sherlock Holmes. I think in fact it is down right degrading and disrespectful to the world-renowned character of Sherlock Holmes. Hollywood is going to butcher this historic character. I’m a huge fan of Lucy Liu but her as Joan Watson is comical. Martin Freeman close your eyes and hears. My sincere apologies to Mr. Cumberbatch and Mr. Freeman on behalf of all Americans who know that this is a travesty.”
The above two comments are a couple of the dozens written in response to comments made by Benedict Cumberbatch concerning his skepticism of the new show Elementary’s success.
Usually I would be the first one on this bandwagon about the US not being original enough, i.e. Office, Being Human, Top Gear, but this is Sherlock Holmes we’re talking about. No one OWNS the exclusive right to play the character of Sherlock or Watson. There have been many adaptions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work. This is just another. This is like saying no one else can play hamlet other than the first actor to ever play it in Shakespeare’s day. Great literature lends to the imagination which in turn is why there are so many adaptions of Shakespeare, Dickens and Doyle’s works especially. I think Benedict was being territorial over something that is truly adored (imitation being the highest form of flattery) universally and something that is not a proprietary work of art.
Fact is according to Guinness World Records, Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed movie character; 75 actors have played the part in more than 200 films.
I watched it and I actually liked it very much and believe me, this is coming from someone who has watched more telly from the UK in the past 20 years than from my own country. If this was a case of re-doing or copying an idea, I doubt it would be as good as it is.
Just my 2p…
“There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before,” – Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1887 ‘A Study in Scarlet’.
EOT
Once Upon... 