On Sherlock Holmes
by Cara Winter
As we all know, since 2010 two shows (CBS’ Elementary, and the BBC’s Sherlock, which has also been picked up by PBS Masterpiece) have reimagined Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock Holmes within a modern setting. As a writer trying to modernize a Victorian piece myself, I have been wondering why, exactly, one of these modernizations has set the world on fire… while the other is just on?
It all starts with the fact that the BBC’s version came first. In 2012, when CBS (as has been reported here and here) approached creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss about remaking Sherlock in America, Moffat & Gatiss politely declined. Smartly, CBS chose not to embroil themselves in a legal battle by ripping off Sherlock whole-hog… and instead did everything they could to make their take on a “modern Sherlock Holmes” really, really different from Sherlock.
I get it, I do. CBS wanted to move forward; Sherlock Holmes was sexy, all of a sudden. Who wouldn’t want to capitalize on that? But, as all Moffat and Gatiss really did was move the characters and stories they loved into our century, creator Robert Doherty would have to change more than just the ol’ anno domini. (By the way, his show Medium? Genius. So, I know he’s likely not the problem…)