Essay: The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes – screen adaptation

The end of 1980 was a significant moment for the fans of Sherlock Holmes. The copyright for Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories expired. All of his works,produced before 1923, were now in the public domain. This fact was almost immediately used by Granada Television, who in 1984 produced the television series The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes. The series consists of forty one episodes, divided into nine seasons,and was aired by British ITV network. The main aim of Michael Cox, the original producer of the series, was to keep as much from the original Conan Doyle’s stories, as it is possible.
The role of Sherlock was played by Jeremy Brett – the second most famous Holmes. It is a very significant fact that his portrayal of the detective differs from those presented by Twentieth Century Fox or Universal productions. For example Brett’s Holmes does not has a deerstalker. The leading actor had a significant impact on the production. He was not afraid to question the decisions of the creators or make his own changes. He tried his best to be as faithful to Doyle’s Sherlock as he could. The exceptions is the detective’s cocaine addiction which Brett makes him quit, because of the underage audience. The problem is that his endeavours soon started to change into obsession. He presented Holmes’s specific hand gestures and short violent laughter. He would simply throw himself on the ground while looking for a footprint. With no hesitation, he would jump over furniture or on the balustrade of a bridge without considering his own safety. The truth is that Holmes’s and Brett’ personalities were very similar, especially the obsessive and depressive side. In the end, the actor developed in himself a fear of the detective. It became more and more difficult for him to part with his character outside the film set. He started to have dreams, even nightmares about Holmes. He began to refer to Sherlock as “He” or “You Know Who”. Brett’ condition worsened after the death of his second wife Joan Wilson. Ultimately he suffered a nervous breakdown, was hospitalized and diagnosed with manic-depressive syndrome. After returning, his appearance started to change. Brett had heart problems and was putting on weight, which made him feel uneasy.
Nevertheless, many people believe that Brett was born to play Holmes. Despite,or maybe even thanks to his illness, he was able to portray Sherlock who suffered from the same affliction, although there are opinions that the oddities of Brett’s Holmes, like shrill cries, mindless movements or tics, might be slightly exaggerated. It is safe to say, Holmes created by the Granada presents mainly the negative features of Conan Doyle’s greatest detective.
Another aspect of  The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, probably equally responsible for the success of the series, is the theme of friendship between Holmes and Watson, who is played first by David Burke, and then by Edward Hardwicke. The doctor, who in earlier productions was presented more like a fool, here comes back as a competent associate, much more similar to Doyle’s creation. While the previous films picture their relationship as one in which Holmes simply tolerates his foolish friend, here both of them are partners, equal to each other. Of course Watson still tends to be astonished by Sherlock’s brilliant gift of ratiocination. He is also reliable and faithfully notes each and every success. Nonetheless, Granada’s Holmes maintains his patronising attitude towards him. This particular feature was taken not from the original, but from the previous adaptations where Rathbone starred.
 
1.4. Sherlock Holmes in the 21st century: Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch
The Year 2009 ended, leaving the fans of Sherlock Holmes with the picture of the detective they had never known before. Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, appeared in the cinemas of the United States on December 25th.  It was the first big screen adaptation of Holmes in thirty years. The new portrayal of the brilliant detective was presented by Robert Downey Jr. The film received mainly positive opinions. In 2011 there appeared the sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and recently, in one of his interviews Downey announced the production of the third part.
The most innovative part of the production is that in fact it is an action movie. Holmes and Watson indeed remain the duo of a detective and his partner, but they also do not hesitate to get involved in a regular fight. At the very beginning, the potential viewers will witness Holmes and Watson quickly and smoothly defeating a group of bullies and saving a woman from a kind of ritual performed by a man called Lord Blackwood. There is also a spectacular scene in slow motion, where it is shown how Sherlock uses his analytical mind to plan his next movements and anticipate the opponents’ reaction, and when time returns to its normal pace, he appears to be right. Watson may not possess such ability, but still he is good enough to fight next to the detective. It is probably safe to say that in this screen adaptation, the creators put more pressure on the physique of Holmes.
After such changes there might appear a question whether it is still the same, old Sherlock. Actually, the idea of Holmes – the fighter is not so far from the original. Thanks to Watson’s analysis from A Study in Scarlet it is known that Holmes is “an expert singlestick player”(Doyle 12), as well as “boxer, and swordsman”(Doyle 12). A different matter is his appearance. In The Hound of the Baskervilles the doctor says that Sherlock has “cat-like love of personal cleanliness”(Doyle 639), which is in contrast with the unkempt and scruffy appearance of the detective from the film. However, the intelligence of Downey’s Holmes remains the same as in the case of the original.
Another aspect is the relationship between Holmes and Watson. In fact, it is a relationship of people who are together for many years and who annoy each other but, at the same time, one cannot live without the other. In fact, their quarrels are considered to be the main comedic aspect of the movie. An example can be the scene, where Watson invites Holmes to dinner with him and Mary Morstan:
“You’re free this evening?”
“Absolutely.”
“Dinner?”
“Wonderful.”
“The Royale?”
“My favorite.”
“Mary’s coming.”
“Not available.”
(00:11:06-00:11:14)
The clashes of this kind appear quite often in the movie, and make their relationship unlike the friendship described by Conan Doyle. The above dialogue also shows Sherlock’s animosity towards Miss Morstan, which is such a well known aspect of the original stories. In the film version Holmes and Watson need each other. The detective needs a friend who can keep him sane, while the doctor wishes to feel the thrill of adventure. Holmes also helps him with his gambling problems, which is similar to the situation in the book, where the detective keeps his friend’s money in his drawer. Additionally, Watson is given a voice – he openly expresses his irritation and anger with Holmes’ arrogance.
In the 2009 production one can see the influence of the 21st century. A good example is the person of Irene Adler. Although as a character she was present only in Scandal in Bohemia, where her role is limited to the woman who outsmarted the genius detective, in the 2009 production miss Adler (played by Rachel McAdams) is much more prominent. She has divorced her husband, had a past affair with Holmes, and works for professor Moriarty. She is no longer a diva but a world class thief. Such an upsurge of her importance might be the effect of today is equality between genders, but the reason can also be the unwritten rule of Hollywood, according to which the main hero of action movie needs to has a love interest, or otherwise he or she is not attractive enough. The very fact of the production being an action movie is also the impact of the current century. An ordinary movie about a brilliant detective conducting an investigation will not guarantee such a success as a good action  movie with spectacular fighting scenes, impossible sixty or twenty years earlier due to the lack of modern technology.
Since the appearance of Ritchie’s first  movie about Holmes, the world did not have to wait long for the next revolution in the story of adaptations of Conan Doyle’s stories. On 25 July, 2010 BBC One and BBC HD broadcast the first episode of Sherlock, a completely new series presenting the familiar stories about Holmes in a new light. The producers (Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat) set the plot of the production in the 21st century. The main part was played by Benedict Cumberbatch as titular Sherlock and Martin Freeman as doctor John Watson. Currently there appeared four three-episode seasons and the fifth is already planned. After the second season, BBC even produced a special, Christmas episode, which seems to be obligatory for every popular, English-language series.
Sherlock is a production based on the original stories and as such, it possesses many similarities and differences with Conan Doyle’s books. This fact can be confirmed by looking at the first episode. It is titled Study in Pink, which is supposed to refer to the Study in Scarlet. The two main characters meet for the first time, become flatmates on 221B Baker Street and investigate a series of deaths, originally suspected to be suicides. However, a drastic change appears already at the point where, in the book, Holmes uses the ring to lure the suspect. In the series, the ring is changed into a phone that lets to get in touch with the killer. Another point is the word “Rache” on the wall. Instead of explaining that “Rache” is German word for “revenge”, Cumberbatch’s Holmes does the opposite: he rejects the theory about the German meaning and assumes that the victim tried to write a female name “Rachel”. An interesting difference is also the moment where Sherlock analises Watson’s mobile phone. It is based on the scene from The Sign of Four, where the detective gathers the details from his friend’s watch. The last, and probably the most significant difference is the person of the killer himself. In the book, the culprit is Jefferson Hope, who wishes to get revenge on a former mormon, who many years earlier took away his beloved Lucy Ferrier, indirectly causing her death. In Study in Pink, the killers’ name is Jeff Hope. He is a terminally ill taxi driver, estranged from his family, hired by an unseen mastermind to commit the murders in a particular way.
A very interesting matter in this 2010 series is the relationship between Holmes and Watson. In the times where topics like homosexuality are no longer taboo, Gatiss and Moffat did not hesitate to mention this matter in the plot. Already in the first episode  there appears a specific exchange between John and Sherlock:
“You don’t have a girlfriend then?”
“Girlfriend? No, not really my area.”
“Hm. Oh, right. Do you have a boyfriend? Which is fine, by the way.”
“I know it’s fine.”
“So you’ve got a boyfriend then.”
“No.”
“Right. OK. You’re unattached, like me. Fine. Good.”
“John, erm… I think you should know that I consider myself married to my work.”
(00:50:36-00:51:12)
John’s suspicions towards his friend’s gender preferences seem to be fully justified, considering that the detective, even in the 21st century, do not show any interest in women. In contrast to the significant role of Irene Adler in the 2009 production, in Sherlock almost no female character is present in more than one  episode. Instead, as the story develops, the audience witnesses many moments and conversations, with homosexual overtone and humour. A good example is a conversation between Watson and Mrs Hudson when in The Empty Hearse the doctor informs the landlady about his move, two years after Holmes’s supposed death:
“Well, I’ve got some news.”
“I’m … moving on.”
“You’re emigrating.”
“Nope. Er, no – I’ve, er … I’ve met someone.”
“Oh, lovely!”
“Yeah. We’re getting married … well, I’m gonna ask, anyway.”
“So soon after Sherlock?”
“Well, yes.”
“What’s his name?”
“It’s a woman.”
“A woman?!”
“Yes, of course it’s a woman.
“You really have moved on, haven’t you?”
“ Mrs Hudson! How many times …? Sherlock was not my boyfriend.”
(00:14:57-00:15:40)
Nonetheless, although the supposed affair between the detective and the doctor was never flunted, the creators definitely sowed the seeds in the imagination of the fans, and these days the lovers of this theory are numerous. Even today, on websites like FanFiction.Net or Archive of Our Own (also known as AO3), there constantly appear more and more stories, where the romantic relationship of Holmes and Watson is displayed.
Sherlock is not only another adaptation of Conan Doyle’s stories. In a certain way it shows how much the vision of Holmes evolved through the years of film adaptations. Cumberbatch presented Holmes with many weaknesses. As an example, Sherlock is addicted to his work. There is nothing that would hurt him as much as the lack of investigations. As Jeff Hope said in the Study in Pink, Holmes is able to “do anything, anything at all, to stop being bored” (01:20:18-1:20:22). Another aspect, visible here more clearly than in previous adaptations, is the fact that there actually are fields in which the detective is completely clueless, because he does not consider this knowledge important for his job. The most visible of the problems however, is that Gatiss and Moffat in their series gave Holmes a kind of original personality. He is manipulative, and does not hesitate to use people,like in the case of Molly Hooper, a worker in the morgue at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He is aware of her affection towards him and takes advantage of it to gain access to the morgue. His sense of humour is rather sarcastic and dark. His main source of amusement is the silliness of other people, not as intelligent as him.He also tends to joke about his brother, Mycroft, who is a government official. Sherlock is also hated by most people. He has no scruples about asking direct, even offensive questions. In later seasons, however, he seems to become more conscious of his ability to affront. Taking all this into account together with his astonishing gift for deduction, people tend to call him a psychopath. In such situations, he always has only one response for them: “I’m not a psychopath, I’m a high-functioning sociopath”.
Through the years that passed since the creation of Sherlock Holmes, many different film adaptations presented the detective in a variety of ways. Some of them focused mostly on presenting the brilliancy of Holmes’s mind; other choose to emphasized other aspects of  Sherlock’s being, like his physical abilities or his relations with other characters. Few productions followed strictly the plot of the original stories, while the producers of  several others allowed themselves to be creative and made a films which, to a greater or lesser extent, distorts the vision of the original Conan Doyle’s detective. Moreover, the wheel turns and the social restrains change,  therefore the more contemporary the adaptation is, the more innovative is the coverage of Holmes. Nonetheless, despite of the passage of time and many modified versions of Conan Doyle’s detective stories, there are features of Sherlock that were never changed. Although he is presented in many different manners, regardless of the times, Sherlock Holmes remains confident, irritating but brilliant detective with extraordinary ability of observation.