Apr 10, 2012 01:56 PM
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Honestly, a show of hands . From our childhood days, who all among us has not wished to grow up to be as smart as Sherlock Holmes. Ok, yes, I know, you can put your hands down now. I know I wanted to be many things as a child(like a doctor, a sculptor, a crocodile, a dinosaur, a poet, a writer, Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones to name just a few) right from 1st grade till 9th before life got a bit serious. Sherlock Holmes has been an idol for most growing kids. The art of deduction about a person/ object by just a glance was something which was first used by Sir Aurthor Conan Doyle in his stories and has been later on inspired the deduction techniques many top intelligence organisations of the world use today, first being their very own Scotland Yard.
BBC has done many different renditions of the Sherlock Holmes stories and I loved them all but there is something different about the latest one.
This British tele series presents a contemporary update of Sir Doyle's original stories. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson. In this version of Sherlock Holmes, the stories have been very pleasantly modified to gel into today's times where the criminals are more fierce, their gadgets are more advanced, their motives are more vicious and their convictions are more fanatic.
Sherlock holmes is armed with his intelligence(which far surpasses usual humans by miles except for those of Mycroft his elder brother and Moriarty his arch nemesis) other than his latop(with an active internet connection) and his GPRS activated cellphone. Let's not forget Dr. Watson, his loyal friend, who has retired from the British army now after being shot in the leg in the Afghan war and shares the first floor at 221 B Baker's street in London, with Holmes with Mrs Hudson as their landlady. Sir Doyle often portrayed Dr. Watson to be somewhat of a simpleton who felt like an idiot in front of Holmes but in this rendition, Holmes has been shown as a normal good human being who tries hard to match Holmes' thinking prowess and fails(obviously) but we love him for trying.
At first I was a little apprehensive of watching this version of Holmes wondering if I would like it. I had kept this aside for over a year but when I eventually got myself to watch it, I couldn't stop thinking about how well the stories were modified, how beautifully the roles were enacted and how engrossed I was in the stories that I wished they made more than just 3 stories per season.
Season 1 Stories:
Season 2 stories:
"A Scandal in Belgravia", loosely based on A Scandal in Bohemia
"The Hounds of Baskerville", loosely based on The Hound of the Baskervilles
"The Reichenbach Fall" loosely based on The Final Problem which Sir Doyle initially wrote to finish off Holmes as he falls with Moriarty down a waterfall but was later forced to bring him back.
Critical reception was overwhelmingly positive and the first series won the 2011 BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series, while Freeman won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Doctor Watson. The show was nominated for the YouTube Audience Award and Cumberbatch was nominated for Best Actor, for his portrayal of Holmes. The first series also won the Arqiva award for the best terrestrial show at the 2011 Edinburgh International Television Festival. "A Study in Pink" was nominated for an Emmy Award. All six episodes(aired so far) have been released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the UK, alongside tie-in editions of some of Conan Doyle's original books.
I can barely wait for Season 3. All I can say is it is a must watch for all detective story fans and especially a must watch for all Sherlock Holmes fans because this rendition has never been tried before and this has been so well made.
