Those characters more open with their humanity show greater change, Martin Freeman in particular, who shows a pleasingly subtle, but nonetheless impressive, versatility throughout. The whole cast clearly relishes the change in era, although oddly, the actor who seemed least distinct in the Victorian sequences was Benedict Cumberbatch himself, perhaps because Sherlock experiences the most superficial changes to his manner between centuries, while his modern image remains more recognisably striking – a key to the series’ enduring appeal. An exceptional performance, and the episode’s comic highlight (hardly surprising, given his background). Not only as a writer, but as a performer too, Gatiss is utterly at home in this period, with his prosthetically engorged Mycroft reaching levels of a Dickensian grotesque. The chilling image of the spectral bride gliding through a Victorian estate is wholly appropriate for this Christmas ghost story, as Gatiss was surely aware. Ominous anecdotal evidence leads into a real confrontation, where all our former certainties are put to the test. I remain hopeful for another, but it’s pleasing to see some of the familiar trappings at play here in the meantime. Co-writer (with Steven Moffat) of this episode Mark Gatiss is a well-known fan, having directed his own addition to the strand, James’ The Tractate Middoth, in 2013. James, whose short stories formed the backbone of the BBC’s 1970s A Ghost Story for Christmas strand. Victorian reason versus the supernatural at this time of year, however, calls to mind another author altogether, namely M.R. The toying with format on show gives us a resolution with greater ambiguity, but the rational must ultimately triumph all the same (complete with a sinister cult of women and a clumsily delivered, but undeniably well-intentioned, feminist moral to boot). It’s a traditional struggle that feels especially at home in the Victorian age, perhaps. Sensibilities integral to Conan Doyle’s stories are made central here too, with the theme of the rational against the supernatural harking back most clearly to The Hound of the Baskervilles. Five years in, Sherlock’s arch self-awareness shows no sign of tiring, now acknowledging even its own esteemed place in the Holmes mythos.
#SHERLOCK THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE CAST TV#
The Basil Rathbone films get a look-in (“Elementary, my dear Watson”), and a direct quotation of The Adventure of the Creeping Man (“Come at once if convenient – if inconvenient, come all the same”) is simultaneously a humorous back-reference to its contemporary paraphrasing in A Study in Pink (2010), the first episode of this TV incarnation. There are not simply knowing winks to Conan Doyle’s stories ( The Five Orange Pips, for instance) and The Strand Magazine, but reverent looks to the wider worlds of the character in other forms. Similarly frequent throughout are the references to the Holmes ‘canon’, in the broadest sense of the word. Bold stylistic touches like this are pushed, especially early on, to make clear this is the same programme we know and love, its grandiose sense of camp firmly intact. Introduced with a tongue-in-cheek ‘previously’ flashback, the 19 th-century setting is barely established before we’re seeing 221B’s living room standing incongruously in the street as events are recounted to Holmes and Watson. Wisely, the ‘period piece’ nature of the episode and the series’ modern idiosyncrasies are collided early on, with trademark audacity.
#SHERLOCK THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE CAST SERIES#
A period-juggling, genre-straddling romp, it was a highly enjoyable diversion from the series proper, and an immensely satisfying piece of seasonal TV. For me, it was the best the show’s been since the last episode, which I also enjoyed. We can rest assured, then, that The Abominable Bride is a success. Response has varied from it being championed as the best yet to final evidence that Sherlock has finally vanished up its own back end in a confused bubble of sexism.
No mean feat in this day and age (for further reference, see all other TV from the last week). It was the most-watched TV programme of the festive season, with 8.4 million on overnight figures alone.
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