The Victorian-Set SHERLOCK Special Will Tell a Ghost Story
Sherlock creator and showrunner Steven Moffat offers some new details on the upcoming special for the series that I found wonderfully intriguing. One of the main things he revealed is that the Victorian setting of the special was the perfect time for them to tell an Arthur Conan Doyle ghost story.
While talking at the Television Critics Association press tour (Via: /Film), Moffat said,
“The main difference I would say, the only temperature change moving it from Victorian and Modern is ghost stories work better in the Victorian setting. Doyle stories that are scary chillers we haven’t done much. Victorian era gives us a chance to do a creepy one, a scary one.”
I couldn't be more excited that we are going to see a Sherlock Holmes supernatural ghost story with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. I'm such a huge fan of the horror genre, and these were some of my favorite Sherlock stories. When talking about Cumberbatch taking on this Victorian version of the character Moffat said,
“Sherlock Holmes has the manners of a Victorian gentleman which he doesn’t have in modern day, so he’s less brattish. I’d say this Sherlock is a little more polished. He operates like a Victorian gentleman.”
It will be fun to see Cumberbatch play this alternate version of Sherlock. He went on to talk about why they decided to set the special in Victorian Lindon:
"[We did this] just because we can, really. We said, ‘Could we maybe do one scene or a dream sequence?’ Then we said why don’t we just do it? We never bothered explaining why he’s in modern day London. Why explain why we’re in Victorian [London]?”
In case you're wondering if we'll ever see them do anything like this again, he said,
“Really this is a one-off unless we go mad and set it in the 1940s and have him fight Hitler. Nothing’s inconceivable if you have bad taste. No, we go back to doing Sherlock next year unless I’m lying or we change our minds.”
There's still no information on when we will get to watch this Sherlock special, but it sure does sound like it's going to be great! I can't wait. To watch the first promo trailer for the special click here.