The BBC Teasing Sherlock

After ages of waiting, thanks to the BBC  the Sherlockians have some new material to analyse and to speculate about.

Yes, it's just a screencap, so this wouldn't cause a too big stir in any other fandom. But it's been almost 21 months since the last episode, and we haven't been getting exactly a lot of news regarding season 3 ever since. So imagine if this would happen to your most favourite TV show, then you may start to grasp the gravity of the situation.

So, what does the picture tells us? Not much . Only that I'm hilariously happy to see John without his moustache and where did Sherlock put his scarf?

And just in case you've been wondering, there is still no sign of an air date. Not yet.

Re-Watching 'The Reichenbach Fall'

Yes, there may be better days to re-watch an episode like that. 

Anyway. Here are some things which came to my mind while watching Thompson's masterpiece. 

• You know you're a Sherlockian when you know that it wasn't 18 months since John's last appointment. Well, at least not in *real* time. The BBC was kind and did not make us waiting 18 months. Not quite.

• Come on, there are TWO people all these people should be thanking for. Sherlock for solving the case, and John for keeping people from killing his rather annoying friend. 

• Just in case you didn't know, that thing with the gum, the diamond and the fire-extinguisher doesn't work in real life. Sadly, up to my  knowledge they haven't featured this in Mythbusters yet. Feel free, to correct me if I'm wrong; not about the not working, but about the Mythbusters bit. Does anyone feel like giving them a call?

• When the little girl starts screaming at Sherlock... It get's me. Every time.

• How can Moriarty be sure that Sherlock won't share the cab with John this time?

• Sherlock uses a Mac? Thompson, why are you doing this to me? It muse be Sherlock's as in season 1 John's laptop used IE to open a page. This couldn't have been possibly any worse.

• Watching John's struggle in Kitty's flat when Moriarty makes him listening to his part of the fairytale is so painful.That moment John cannot help himself but to consider the odds. At the same time he hates himself for doubting his friend. That's why he is so upset. He hates that this man makes him doubt Sherlock's loyalty for a splitsecond. By the time he flickers through Kitty's scraps of *evidence* he has made up his mind of what's going on. And now he is only afraid that this time Sherlock may not escape this web Moriarty has created for him. Because he, John Watson, has no idea what Sherlock could do.

• The fact that after the big showdown at Kitty's flat Sherlock decides to leave John on his own without giving a convincing explanation shows how much he trusts him.

• The only thing Sherlock does out of character in 'The Reichenbach Fall' is him asking Molly for help. Taking Moffat's level of trolling into account and the fact that it's so obvious, it may not be wrong to assume that that is what he referred to as the clue to how Sherlock survived the fall. Oh, and it being so obvious is the reason why everyone is 'missing' it. We are rather speculating about rubber balls (possible) and Rhododendron Ponticum (wrong, come on, just look at the other side effects) than accepting the obvious: it was Molly and apart from that we don't know.

• I'm sorry, but am I the only one bothered by Sherlock and Moriarty wearing their winter coats while the broad-leafed trees are standing beautifully green in the background? Not to mention the sun beaming from the sky? Hold on is this a clue?

• And we present the only correct way to respond to someone saying 'you're insane': 'You're just getting that now?' Awwww, Moriarty. I'm going to miss you. 

• After reading about Sherlock's suicide Mycroft takes the same thinking position as his brother used to do... they are brother's after all. And some part of him knows it's a fake.

• Oh_my_dear1#: John's 'I'm actually not that angry' when Mrs Hudson is going on and on about Sherlock's bad habits, which he is all probably missing now really badly, made me smile.

Re-watching 'The Great Game'

And the re-watching continues. There weren't many unanswered questions this time.  And I can't believe I've managed to wait more than year a to find out what happened next. Clicking 'next episode' feels like heaven right now. Oh, those lucky things which will get into Sherlock after 'The Empty Hearse'. How much I envy them. There *really* should be a built in one-year-waiting button in the next DVD box-set.

So, enough chatting; here we go again. 

• Why does Sherlock identify the handwriting on the envelope with the phone as that of a woman's? Who wrote it to him? Moriarty? Did he fake his own handwriting? Or does he just write like a girl? Hang on, is that an insult?

• Who'd be stargazing from London? Well, I know about Greenwich but, still, wouldn't there be too much light pollution to enjoy the view?

• Why does Sherlock *pretend* to do the shopping? John wouldn't have left faster...

• Oh_my_dear#1 When Sherlock sees John at the pool he HAS to think for a second that he's Moriarty.

• Oh_my_dear#2 What's worse. That's what has to come to John's mind too. But he cannot tell his friend because he has to repeat what Moriarty is saying to him.

• Oh_my_dear#3 When Moriarty finally show up in person they have to think they won't make it out alive. Well, that's at least what's on John's mind. After all, now they know how he looks like. So why should he let them go. That's why John's willing to sacrifice his life. Well, that and the fact that he really likes Sherlock.

• Oh_my_dear#4 Sherlock has no idea what to do with the gun after Moriarty has left.

Re-Watching 'The Blind Banker'

 Just some things which came to my mind when re-watching 'The Blind Banker'.

• What happened to the man Sherlock was fighting while John was out shopping? Why is that guy Sherlock's message for the people of the Jaria Diamond case? Why shouldn't John know about this?

• Why does Sherlock not let John in the flat after he enters it via the balcony? Does he want to make sure it's safe? Or does he not want to be distracted by his friend?

• What did Sherlock need that pen he'd been waiting for 'about an hour'? Good, him catching it without looking is quite impressive. I give you that. But you could have made him actually do something with it.

• Why does John use Internet Explorer? WHY?

• What is Sherlock's motivation behind him not telling John about that guy in Soo Lian Yao's flat? Is he that vain? Or is there more behind it?

• Couldn't help noticing that John's phone has great picture taking abilities illuminating the whole chiphre on the wall. In 2o1o. And it's an old phone he got from Harry... 

• The most unrealistic part of the episode is that Van Coon has so many books. Have you met people making a great living working at banks? More importantly, have you met their bookshelves?

• The guy at the ticket selling boot at the circus has to notice that John is not Sherlock. When Sherlock turns up he introduces himself to John's date right in front of the ticket seller's eyes.

• Love the way John says 'this is... art', as if art were something disgusting.  

• And most importantly, why didn't Van Coon ask his secretary to give him the hair pin back? Why was he willing to die for it?

We Have a Date

No, not that kind of date, but one for Sherlock's eagerly awaited 3rd season. Well, sort of.

Because actually, it's not us who have a date, but our dear fellows on the other side of the big pond, who are going to find out how Sherlock survived his fall on 

January 19 at 10 p.m.

You may want to save it. 

However, maybe not, because in the brave new world of copyright infringements and streaming sites you do not need to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that BBC One may want to broadcast season 3 a bit earlier than that, i.e. even if you happen to live on the North pole, you could watch season 3 only a few hours after the lucky guys in the UK.

So, the big question regarding the British air date still remains. One thing for sure, this time PBS Masterpiece won't make the mistake of letting fans wait 4 additional months. Just in case you didn't know, while the  Britons could enjoy season 2 already on January 1 2o12, PBS Masterpiece only broadcast it on May 6. Unsurprisingly, the fact that you could watch "A Scandal In Belgravia" in Russia only one day after the British air date caused a bit of a scandal in its own right.

But back to the British air date. Taking the fact into account that the BBC's 'the two of us against the rest of the world'-trailer is actually entitled 'Original British Drama 2013' there's hope season 3 airs this year.

Re-watching 'A Study in Pink'

Statistically speaking, Sherlock may be the most watched TV series on earth. Seriously. Just start to imagine how often you can finish watching all Sherlock seasons in one year. And it's been three since 'A Study in Pink'. 

Watching an episode again and again and again has side effects. And I'm not only referring to the irresponsible amount of Sherlock references on tumblr or pinterest, by which one may assume that Sherlock does not have only 6 episodes by know, but six seasons. At least. But, I'm rather trying to hint at the many many details to which you start paying attention when watching an episode a second time. And frankly, most Sherlockians have seen the complete series a bit more than that. In fact, most may say they've lost count.

So, to cut a short story even shorter, here is a list of a few things which struck me as odd when re-watching Moffat's masteripeice 'A Study in Pink'.

• Why did the bottles of the other victims contain more than one pill?
   
• Sherlock and Watson leave 221b Bakerstreet at daylight to visit the crime scene. And all of a sudden it turns dark. Sure, it's winter, but how far can Brixton Lauriston Gardens be? I know, according to Google Maps, about 30 minutes... My point is, however, still standing.
   
• Why should Anderson be wearing a different deo when Sally is the one who did not make it home last night?
   
• Why is the pink lady's umbrella white when she has a pink suitcase. Come on. It's more difficult to get a pink suitcase than a pink umbrella. Have you never been shopping?
   
• I love the fact that Anderson (well, Jonathan Aris) can pronounce the German word 'Rache' correctly.
   
• And, I also love that Sherlock, the big genius, follows anyone's first instinct, and 'decides' not to trust the cabbie when taking the bottle the cabbie apparently wanted to take himself, i.e. the one he did not offer to Sherlock. According to Sherlock it was not a double bluff. Just a bluff.  It's either that or he is the one having trust issues and not John. Then again, anyone would find it difficult to trust a murderer. 

Did Sherlock Choose the Right Bottle?

Frankly, since watching 'A Study in Pink' that question has been on many people's minds. So did he?

Let's look at the facts.

The big difference between the cabbie and his 'playmate' is that the cabbie and his playmate have utterly different motives. The cabbie's passenger wants to prove their wits. They want to show off; pretty much what Sherlock is trying to do all the time. The cabbie on the other hand does not mind what other people are thinking about him. His motive is money. He has a sponsor and he wants to earn as much as possible by playing along.

Another point which should not be ignored is that the cabbie knows which is the good bottle. And the playmate knows the cabbie knows... And the cabbie knows the playmate knows that he knows... You get the idea.

Furthermore, the cabbie states that he's secret is that he's able to read people's minds. But is that enough? After all, people are changing their minds all the time, especially when they are about to make such a life threatening decision. There are simply too many variables the cabbie cannot account for. Even if the victim's first idea was to take the other bottle, out of instinct, and then, as the reasonable part of their mind is kicking in, to change their decision and to take the one handed by the cabbie. Then they change their minds again, thinking that maybe that's what the cabbie wanted them to do all along, and so on. Reading the other's mind is not helping in this game as before the cabbie tosses the good/bad bottle his victim has not made up their mind completely. This means, the cabbie does not know which bottle to draw his victim's attention to before doing so.

Yet, he has played the game 4 times and the odds seems to have been irresponsibly in his favour. And  here he is, trying his luck for a 5th time. What's more, he seems to be sure that he'll win again, even when facing the most clever man walking the surface of the earth. If he had had doubts, he could have switched off the phone and chosen another passenger instead. And even after making Sherlock choosing a bottle, he does not seem to lose his faith in beating him. His behaviour does not change. Picking up the other bottle from the table, all he says is 'interesting' as if he wasn't talking about his own life. So the cabbie is either too stupid for his own good, something he does not really seem to be, or he's not playing a fair game.

Because the only way to ensure that his victims will always pick the wrong bottle, is by offering them two wrong bottles. The obvious downside of this theory is that the cabbie ends up with one bad bottle as well. But playing a crooked game, he knows the pills. He knows what makes them poisonous. And he could take an antidote before the game is on. By this he makes sure that he cannot be beaten by his opponents. Besides, it makes him sure to be able to outwit Sherlock. He knows Sherlock will be  fascinated by the nature of the game, that it will be tempting him and that he will not consider the intellectual challenge to be a fraud. Showing that he's clever is such a holy action to Sherlock that playing a crooked game does not cross his mind.

Moffat on the Past and the Future

With  'WorldScreen' getting the Mighty Moff to talk Who the interview-frenzy continues and they are contributing some rather interesting reading material.  Here are some snippets. 

On Moffat's first year as Who's headwriter:

I remember thinking, if these two things screw up, I’m finished! [...] This could be a really terrible year. I could crash Doctor Who and screw up Sherlock Holmes and if I’d just shot Daniel Craig in the face I’d have ended all of British culture. But it didn't work out that way.

On what Mattt Smith has brought to the role:

The last thing anybody thought when we cast the 26-year-old was that what we’d get is a return to the eccentric old boffin that he is at heart, the hipster boffin.

 On casting the new Doctor:

At the end of the day the objective is to convince the nation that somehow, despite the apocalyptic change, it really is the same person.

There are also some Sherlock bits, like  how he and Mark Gatiss came up with the idea and how updating it felt like a natural process.

Then we get a comment on the changing nature of watching TV schedule-free:

Your bookcase doesn't tell you when you can read. Why should your television tell you when you can watch? We’re heading towards the world of the download, and that’s a good thing. It will favor quality, I believe.

And, last but not least, why he thinks Who to be the most perfect  TV show ever envented:

It is the show you can’t kill. [...] It is dependent on no individual. You give it your all for the years that you do it and when you leave it won’t even notice [...] Not only can you recast the Doctor, you can create a Doctor who is appropriate for the times. He can always be modern. He can always be new. It’s an ancient tradition and yet it’s a brand-new iteration of that tradition. So it feels old and new at the same time.

But go on, and read the whole stuff, even though some of the statements may appear familiar to you, especially when you've been following Comic Con. However, some of the background-information has been utterly new to me, and there's a chance it will be new to you too. 

'Sherlock' New's Round-Up

'Fashion&Style' did a great job in summarising the latest developments regarding 'Sherlock'.

The bad news is that due to certain delays in filming (and script writing) it seems we won't get season 3 till 2014.

But, as we have plenty of time at hand to analyse every single detail the 'Sherlock' team is throwing at us, which is remarkably little, it may be of interest that 'F&S' notes

Andrew Scott recently revealed that the “Sherlock” cast has been banned from sharing plot points with friends and family.

Moriarty died in season 2, as we all remember. I guess shooting yourself in the head is as fatal as it can get. So why should Andrew Scott be familiar with plot points of season 3 in the first place? Are we getting flash-backs? Please, don't tell me he survived too, because if yes then Moffat's inability of killing people is getting out of hand. However, the flash-back theory seems to be more likely.

So, let's the wait continue. 

Entertainment Weekly's Moffat Interview

This is Entertainment Weekly's famous Steven Moffat interview in which he actually answers some really interesting questions. 

You don't believe me, right? After reading it my first though was who is that guy and what has he done with the Mighty Moff? Because some answers are so much not like him. Like, the first one: 

EW: When do you hope to announce the identity of the new Doctor? 

Moffat: Unless we have an insane plan, we’ll announce a new Doctor within days of finalizing the new Doctor. Because it’s very very hard to keep any kind of a secret. The last time, when we chose Matt, we had to hold over on that one, because there was a Christmas Doctor Who special called “The Next Doctor” for which Russell was playing the game of pretending it was going to be David Morrissey. So we couldn’t deflate that. [Laughs]. But I think we’ll go public pretty fast.

Moffat is usually the first to admit to have an insane plan. Actually, I would have bet  my 'Doctor Who' DVD box set collection on him trying to keep the name of the actor stepping into Matt Smith's shoes a secret as long as possible (i.e. till Christmas? August 2014?) Well, on a more realistic level, my guess was rather a few weeks after casting him (yes, I'm still ignoring other possibilities for the moment) but not days.

And on that issue, Moffat has officially not ruled out the possibility of having a female Doctor. He says: 

I’m not going to comment at all on the direction we’re going. Sorry!

 The other questions are less exciting, but nonetheless interesting (will Matt Smith have to wear a wig, when and how did Steven Moffat learn about his intentions of leaving, does Moffat have any plans of leaving 'Who', (not yet *whoo-hoo*), what was it like to have two Doctors on one set, just to name some of them). 

And even though I won't post the whole interview, it's worth reading. After all, it's one of those few official statements on all things 'Who' (and some 'Sherlock') we'll get this long summer.

The Final Problem - How Did Sherlock Fake His Death?

There's just one more thing, one more thing, one more miracle, Sherlock, for me.
Don't. Be.
Dead.

Going by the evidence of Doyle's original story, the final seconds of Sherlock's last episode and that we know season 3 is going to air some when within this millennia starring Benedict Cumberbatch, you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to deduct that he must have faked his really realistic looking death in "The Reichenbach Fall". So, the more advanced question is how he did do it.

How does one survive jumping from the top of a building? The answer is, you don't. But assuming that it was possible, it might be logical to say that Molly helped him with it. After all, we see him seeking her help. And when you're Sherlock Holmes, that's not something you'd usually do. And being familiar with Moffat's trolling capabilities that's what he may have been pointing at when saying the clue is all there... However, the episode offers us more than this.

First of all,  let's not forget that Sherlock is the one inviting Moriarty to join him on the rooftop. He's the one setting the when and where. Therefore, it's just logical to assume that he did not show up there without making some preparations.

The night before jumping Sherlock is constantly playing with a rubber ball. And given the fact that John only checks Sherlock's wrist and not his neck for pulse, there is the possibility that he used it to create the illusion that his heart stopped beating. (Of course he's doing it right after jumping off a building, which makes this [if this was real] even more remarkable).

But there is even more. We can assume that Sherlock is telling John Moriarty's lie because he does not want John to suffer. He hopes that by implying how much he betrayed him John will terminate their friendship or at least, he will take things more easily. The last time they see each other he makes John mad at him by implying that he does not care about Mrs Hudson having a possibly life-threatening incident, something he has obviously came up with for this very purpose. Sherlock does not gain anything by this, in fact it hurts his own feelings because John's opinion and his friendship are important to him. Sherlock shows when he has to choose between his reputation and John, that John's the winner. Putting the sentimental aspect of this aside, and focusing on the fact that Sherlock is obviously not wanting to hurt him, he nevertheless asks him a rather inappropriate thing to do: to watch him jump. He wants John to keep his eyes on him, while he's falling.

 There may be several reasons for this request, however, the most rational one is that he does not want John to notice what is happening around him. But before going into further detail, let's focus on the location of Sherlock's 'suicide'.

The  hospital from John's point of view

Looking at the two first pictures on the left we learn the building off which Sherlock jumps has 2 floors.

The red-brick building

Just in case you are wondering if that picture shows the right building, it does. The red-brick base is a second building standing between the hospital and John, from where he watches Sherlock jump This becomes more obvious when we take a look at the situation form Sherlock's point of view

And John from Sherlock's point of view.

(picture 3 on the left).

This fact is interesting because we know that the first thing Sherlock tells John on the phone is precise directions where to stand. And Sherlock wants him to stand behind the red brick building which doesn't allow him to see Sherlock hitting the ground. To get to Sherlock he has to go round it and that's when the cyclist runs into him. This means, that John is not really able to see how Sherlock hits the ground. The brick building is simply blocking his view.

Having settled this point there is also the fact that Sherlock's 'fatal' injuries do not match the way he hits the ground.

When falling we know that Sherlock does not flip. The building has only 2 floors and we see both of them in this picture. It is obvious that it will be his feet which will touch the ground first. Not his head, or torso.

Nevertheless, when John finally sees his friend, he has a head injury. How on earth is it possible to get a head injury when falling like that? It simply does not match, i.e. the head injury is not real.

Sherlock's and the truck's position is wrong.

Taking only the rational aspect of this into account he may have got several other injuries, but he certainly does not damage his head, not like that.

The last thing which may, or may not, require an answer is that in the end Sherlock seems to have rotated 9o°C  between falling and hitting the ground. Knowing that he lands 'on his feet', more or less, there is the possibility that when hitting the ground his weight isn't shifted equally and he falls over. However, there should be noted that even if he falls over his feet have already absorbed most of the impact, i.e. when his head finally touches the ground the result is certainly not such a sever looking injury.

Unfortunately, the only thing which cannot be explained away is the distance between the rooftop and the pavement. Because no matter what, Sherlock has to jump. He has to make the killers believe that he takes his life. Sherlock certainly figures out in advance what Moriarty is up to, the whole conversation on the rooftop is mostly a show. This means that Sherlock could have taken preparations to guarantee himself a somewhat softer landing. But he can't risk doing something obvious*. Maybe the fact that when entering the rooftop he's keeping his hands behind his back has something to do with this. And when standing the first time on the edge he asks Moriarty to give him a moment. Does he really need it? Is it part of the show? Or does he use it to do something else?  Besides, I don't think that Sherlock simply needs Molly to give him a rubber ball and to fake an autopsy. She helped him, somehow. And finding out how she helped him performing his magic trick is the reason why I'm looking forward to the next episode. I know Sherlock Holmes wouldn't agree with this, but I think being able to deduct the whole story would leave us with just too many spoilers.

__
*Yes, there is that truck packed with some soft-looking washing bags, as we can easily see in the last picture... but wouldn't that be too obvious? Besides, if you're comparing it with this picture you'll notice that the truck is standing wrongly. If it had been standing where Sherlock landed, to get into that position afterwards, the driver would have had to backup. Something he certainly did not, given the fact that it would have been much easier not to back up and to drive away.

The Mighy Moff's Dream Comes True...

According to the Radio Times it seems the Mighty Moff gets his way as the big guys of 'Doctor Who' "won’t be announcing the new Doctor until early autumn", which is when they'll start filming the Christmas special or maybe even season 8. This means the speculations of who's going to be the next Doctor will last for several more weeks, if not longer. After all, no one is promising us that we'll actually know who's going to be the next Doctor by then. And knowing how much Moffat loves secrets it's not difficult to picture him laughing gleefully at being able to  keep things wrapped up as long as possible.

Another interesting detail revealed by that article is that apparently some people hoped that filming the Christmas special will start earlier, in late summer. There can be two obvious reasons for this shift. First of all, it may be Matt Smith's hair needing more time to grow back (well, I'm obviously joking; at least I hope I am). The second, and much more likely reason is that Steven Moffat has a pretty tight schedule this year. He's responsible for two shows with really demanding (not to say ridiculously complex) plots and sadly, those scripts won't write themselves. Also the fact that filming Sherlock was delayed too and only started in March may have affected his plans*. So, it's not only us who, when confronted with impossible-to-make deadlines, wish the TARDIS  was real...

As for the names mentioned who may (or may not) become the next Doctor, in my humble opinion, Moffat will choose someone who is not known as 'the guy from [insert popular cine-/telematic masterpiece here]'. Because whoever will get the part will be known as "the guy from 'Doctor Who'" and not vice versa.

___

* On the plus side,  the seemingly endless wait for season 3 is going to come to an end on October 31st.

The Mighty Moff on 'Doctor Who' and 'Sherlock'

2 weeks ago Steven Moffat was made to answer a few questions. And he did not.  At least not the *really* important ones. However, those he did answer are also pretty interesting, like, the fact that he sees John and Sherlock as "blokes who get on, instantly"  and that even though he thinks it's good that fans have their own shipping-theories, he has no intentions of changing their relationship (whoo-hoo!).

As for 'Doctor Who' and the anniversary, there is not much RedCarpetTV could get out of him. The Moff explains why he thinks it's good to have it made in 3D, and he makes a comment on fan's utterly wrong theories.

Oh I love you all Doctor Who fans, but honestly, now and then don't believe everything you hear or don't hear.

We had worse.

Oh, and there is that part on how he won't kidnap Peter Jackson to direct 'Doctor Who'. Good to know. I just love his sense of humour.

Moffat on HitFix

Here is another Steven Moffat interview done in August (I know, I am lagging behind a bit), and this time it's HitFix who is doing the enquiry. Here are a few interesting bits, but it's not a mistake to read the whole thing.

On what did Matt Smith do so that Moffat cast him as the Doctor:

"The same performance you see on the show now. I still have it on my laptop. It's the same performance he gives now. He was just brilliant. He was by far the best."

On why the Doctor is able to cross his own timeline and doing other wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff, he, according to canon, should not be able to do:

"The fact that he says it's a rule doesn't mean he's going to stick to it. "

On writing challengingly complex story archs for a series which is meant for children:

"And if there's something that maybe makes them say, "I didn't quite understand that, Dad, what happened?" and they have a conversation about it, can someone tell me what's wrong with that? "

On his busy schedule for doing Sherlock and Doctor Who at the same time:

""Manageable" is the wrong word. It's "survivable.""

Misquotes and Misunderstandings?

The recent news regarding Doctor Who are causing quite a fuss, mostly because there seem to be only a few people who know what is going on, but they are not too willing to share their news with us...

But before opening a new round of speculations about Doctor Who's future I just want to mention, that we should not believe everything out there, even if they claim to base their assumptions on reliable sources.
A textbook example for this is the latest BBC article dealing with this topic, however, the Whoniverse's very own Big Moff sees things a bit differently. His twitter statement reads:

"The scheduling of Dr Who has got NOTHING to with Sherlock. On the plus side THE BBC SPELLED MY NAME RIGHT!!!!"

So I don't know whom the BBC article does quote, but Steven Moffat seems to have different sources, and I have the feeling that he knows best what is going on ATM.

Another question fans are asking themselves is what has caused this fuss?
Yes, ratings could have been better this season, but I think the BBC knows better than butchering its cash-cow. Another option is that Moffat has a small problem with being in charge of Sherlock and Doctor Who at the same time. Or is it that Moffat wants to keep the current spring and autumn schedule for the forthcoming seasons, maybe not only for the sake of budget or ratings, but also because Doctor Who was originally meant to be aired in the cold months. Well, it would work for me. Or is it all of these points? Still, no matter how things will turn out to be, I'm willing to trust Moffat saying (or rather twittering):

"Dr Who: misquotes and misunderstandings. But I'm not being bounced into announcing the cool stuff before we're ready. Hush, and patience."

And somehow I rather take his word over the BBC's. So there is some 'cool stuff' on its way. We'll wait and see...

It's the children's program that adults adore.

With this being the nth interview I link to this page, I'm running out of introductions...

Steven Moffat is talking about Doctor Who and Sherlock and this time it's gothamist scripting it for us. I think if you like Moffat's stuff then you're going to enjoy reading those lines.

Among other things it's about how it is to be responsible for maybe the two most innovative and successful series on television, why the similarities between the leading characters of Doctor Who and Sherlock only last at first sight and how writing for such a complex show as Doctor Who is like. Although, it is a bit scary to know that the Big Moff used to have nightmares about flying sharks. I guess there are not many people having the power of making their nightmare come true... luckily.

Shattered Dreams...

Sadly, yesterday neither Sherlock nor Doctor Who could stand their ground at the National Television Awards (NTA), which is for the latter one the first time since it has been brought back to life. If you feel like torturing yourself, these YouTube videos show how they are NOT getting the awards. (Best Drama, Best Drama Performance).

And the winning parties forgot to thank Sherlock and Doctor Who being nominated in the same categories, which was the main cause for Waterloo Road (never heard of it) and ... erm who? - David Jason getting any awards in the first place.

Because, the obvious reason for this is that both shows have more or less the same fan-base, and as the two of them were put up against each other in the same categories, fans had to make up their minds what to vote for. And because of the split votes both failed... Well, I wouldn't say failed for Doctor Who is still one of the Beeb's most important series, and Sherlock is on the best way to get there, nevertheless, we are not pleased. I mean, back in 2oo5 the show could scope three awards, and I think since then Doctor Who has improved a lot.

Let's hope next year we'll have learnt something of this, because with Sherlock's new season it's more than just very likely that two of our most favourite serials will be nominated against each other again.

It’s called 'A Christmas Carol '- is - 'A Christmas Carol'

In this interview published by The New York Times Steven Moffat talks about a few things we've all been worrying or, if not worrying at least wondering about. Starting with the Doctor mysteriously marrying Marilyn Monroe, or how he managed to write his first Christmas special in mid-April, up to whether Moffat is planning to do a Doctor Who-Sherlock cross-over, or not.

Well, I suppose you read it yourself...

The Great Game

Someone is trying hard to drive people's attention to this show. For it looks as if the Beeb won't have another choice than giving us at least another season of this 21st century Sherlock.

So, we had our story-arch then... (and this made it official that last week's episode was really just a filler, as it seemed to be in the first place). Additionally, The Great Game showed us this series' future capacity. Come on, they could have made a whole season out of the last episode's plot alone. And after sitting through it the only thing we get is a cliff-hanger, which was a bit far-fetched IMHO. But who cares. Somehow it still managed to be amazing, and I can't wait for more.

And BTW I just love Sherlock's catchy opening-titles.

The Blind Banker

Sherlock is on its best way to become one of those save-the-date TV series. Because this was awesome. 

Sure, even the at times overly fast paced action couldn't help distracting from the fact that this was the filler of this year's season (well, I for my part hope there will be more). There were too many lose strings to speculate about. Like, what happened to the man Sherlock was fighting while John was out shopping? Why is that guy Sherlock's message for the people of the Jaria Diamond case? And most importantly, why shouldn't John know about this? And still, somehow I  have the feeling that it's not important. I guess, Thompson could have made more of these thrown away snippets.

But there were more things Sherlock did not want John to know about. Like him almost dying in Soo Lin Yao's flat. Does he want to hide the fact that their job is somewhat dangerous? Does he not want to admit that he did something stupid? Why doesn't he open the flat after entering it anyway? What's his motivation?

But otherwise, it's great to see a Sherlock Holmes adaptation in which John and Sherlock can be equals in their friendship. John is more than someone filling in for Sherlock's audience, or his skull. Well, at the same time, Sherlock does his best to irritate everyone around him, also John. It's clear that he's not trying to be nice. And John's failed attempt of having a date is somewhat foreshadowing his future. 

So, the M to which Shen was talking in the last seconds of her life is certainly Moriarty. I guess, next week things will start to become really interesting...