Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this Christmas special.Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this Christmas special.Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this Christmas special.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn this episode, the modernised Sherlock catchphrase "The Game is on!" is rendered back to the original "The Game is afoot."
- GoofsWhen we see the groom for the first time, he exits a building with Chinese characters to the left of the doorway. The characters used are from the simplified character set which is not possible for 1890s London as it was first introduced by the government of the People's Republic of China in the 1950s. However, it is revealed that the entire Victorian London is in the head (mind palaces) of modern Sherlock, so anachronisms can be dismissed as him applying modern themes.
- Quotes
Dr. John Watson: [being furious with Sherlock] I'm an army doctor, which means I could break every bone in your body while naming them.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Masterpiece Mystery: Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (2016)
Featured review
Convoluted but still very enjoyable
In a Sherlock Holmes mind trip he is taken back to the 1890s. In a setting very much like that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have envisaged, Holmes is a private detective, operating out of 221B Baker Street. Assisting him is Dr Watson. They are presented with a very baffling case. A woman, Emelia Ricoletti, publicly shoots and kills herself, only to appear a few hours later and kill her husband. Within the next few months other murders are committed by woman appearing to be Mrs Ricoletti. Even the police are thinking that paranormal activity is afoot. Then Sir Eustace Carmichael is threatened by such an apparition and his wife calls in Holmes and Watson.
The idea of filming a Sherlock Holmes episode in the original time and setting appealed to me. It gave us a taste of what the series would have been like if it hadn't been contemporised. However, at the back my mind was the nagging suspicion that the writers had run out of ideas and that going back to the 1890s was a gimmick, and the series' jumping the shark moment.
Ultimately it isn't as straightforward as an entire Sherlock episode set in the 1890s, so difficult to judge whether it was meant to be a gimmick or not. It ends up much more complex than that, and, to an extent, unnecessarily so. We have many jumps between the 1890s and the 2010s and it seems like style over substance.
However, it is very entertaining. The 1890s murder story is very intriguing and is woven into the overall plot well. The modern day side is reasonably well done, though the Moriarty scenes seemed a bit self-indulgent and overblown.
Overall, not brilliant but a pretty good episode nevertheless.
The idea of filming a Sherlock Holmes episode in the original time and setting appealed to me. It gave us a taste of what the series would have been like if it hadn't been contemporised. However, at the back my mind was the nagging suspicion that the writers had run out of ideas and that going back to the 1890s was a gimmick, and the series' jumping the shark moment.
Ultimately it isn't as straightforward as an entire Sherlock episode set in the 1890s, so difficult to judge whether it was meant to be a gimmick or not. It ends up much more complex than that, and, to an extent, unnecessarily so. We have many jumps between the 1890s and the 2010s and it seems like style over substance.
However, it is very entertaining. The 1890s murder story is very intriguing and is woven into the overall plot well. The modern day side is reasonably well done, though the Moriarty scenes seemed a bit self-indulgent and overblown.
Overall, not brilliant but a pretty good episode nevertheless.
helpful•54
- grantss
- Aug 15, 2016
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Filming locations
- Tyntesfield House and Estate, Wraxall, Somerset, England, UK(St Eustace Carmichael's house and Dr Watson's London home)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD
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