Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Sherlock Holmes

I've been reading books and watching movies/shows about Sherlock Holmes since I was a teenager. Take my word for it, it's been a long time. (When you can start counting time in decades, you know you're getting old...) My all-time favorite is the pairing of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, though Bruce did play Watson as much more of a bumbler than Conan Doyle wrote him.

The latest version is from the BBC and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson, and it is brilliant! It has been updated for modern audiences, set in present day with Holmes using texting to communicate with journalists (and the killer!) and Watson blogging instead of writing in a journal.

Holmes's intellect and obvious glee over crime scenes has put off the police--Lestrade only calls him in when he's desperate, and not really because he wants to. Watson is home from the war in Afghanistan (eerily a mirror of the original Watson, who also saw action in Afghanistan). The pairing is, well, brilliant!

I can't wait for the next episode!

4 comments:

Tori Lennox said...

I had doubts when I first heard they'd modernized but I was totally hooked 10 minutes in. Love love LOVED it!!!

Colleen Love said...

I really love the version BBC does, will have to check this one out. :)

Sherrill Quinn said...

Tori, I wondered about it, too. I mean, part of what makes Sherlock Holmes so fun is that it takes place in Victorian times. But Hollywood "modernized" it back in the 30s/40s when Basil Rathbone played the part, so why not now, right?

Colleen, you can watch it online. The next installment is on Sunday night. :)

Jenny Teo said...

I am a big Sherlock Holmes fan and had the same apprehensions as many other Sherlock Holmes fans when I read about the modern adaptation.

I have since become a total convert and fanatic of all things "BBC Sherlock". The Cumberbatch-Freeman pairing is awesome and illuminated the brilliant writing by the Moffat-Gatiss partnership!