Trivia / Sherlock

• Blooper: In Series 4's "The Lying Detective", the blood that appears on the ground after John beats Sherlock disappears between shots.
• Creator Backlash: After Series 4, Martin Freeman revealed he isn't keen to do another series because fan harassment due to failed expectations has taken out all the fun of making the show.
• Diagnosis of God: Benedict Cumberbatch has said in DigitalSpy that he plays Sherlock so that he can be read as either sociopathic or autistic or both.
• Descended Creator: Mycroft is played by Mark Gatiss, who is the co-creator of the series and a writer.
• Doing It for the Art: Everyone involved with the show loved doing it during its peak seasons, which is why it continued well after Freeman and Cumberbatch had broken out in America. This especially goes for Cumberbatch, who spearheaded getting (at least) the third season greenlit despite being in the midst of several decidedly more lucrative Hollywood contracts, which normally would have relegated Sherlock as a waste of time.
• Duelling Shows: With Elementary, its CBS cousin. Sherlock has a two-season head start, but Elementary's pushing out more episodes.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Both Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Gatiss dye their hair black for their roles as Sherlock and Mycroft. They're both naturally ginger.
  • In preparation for the first season, Cumberbatch lost some weight to reflect Sherlock's tendency to not eat while working. He's even thinner in the pilot. In the second season, he gained the weight back - after all, Sherlock now shares an apartment with a physician.
• Edited for Syndication: "The Empty Hearse" for the American broadcast on PBS. In the series of intercut edits between Sherlock and John, Sherlock's "Fuuuu" (that feeds into John's "cough" to create "fuck off") is cut down by a few hundredths of a second so it's not as blatant. You would have to watch both versions to notice. Similarly John's swearing ("You - you cock!") is edited so that he just says "You!" twice. However, his calling Sherlock a "complete dickhead" is left intact in "The Sign of Three".
• Enforced Method Acting: Lara Pulver caused quite a stir when she admitted that during the scene where Irene Adler was naked in front of Sherlock, she really wasn't wearing anything. One wonders how much of Martin and Benedict's reactions were genuine.
• Fan Community Nickname:
  • Fans of Benedict have taken up the name "Cumberbitches".
    • And since Benedict found that disturbing, some fans have switched to "Ben-addicts" or "Cumberbabes".
    • Or to "Cumbercookies" (so that a group of them would be called a "Cumberbatch").
    • Also "The Cumber Collective", which Benedict also mentioned by name on The Graham Norton Show.
  • "Sherlockians", which is almost as old as the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories for obvious reasons, and used to be synonymous with "Holmesians" but now tends to be associated with this show.
  • Similarly, "the Moffia".
  • "Watson's Warriors" for the #believeinsherlock folks.
  • "The Fandom That Waited", referring to the agonizingly long hiatuses.
• Fandom Nod:
  • John's comment on Sherlock "ripping his clothes off in a darkened swimming pool". For the unassuming public, a fun nod to the Ho Yay.
  • John directly addresses the homoeroticism in "A Scandal in Belgravia":
  John: Who the hell knows about Sherlock Holmes, but for the record — if anyone out there still cares — I'm not actually gay.
  • There is no way, none at all, that the jumper John is wearing during the Christmas interlude wasn't inspired by the fandom's appreciation of John Watson's cuddly jumpers. Sherlock mentions "the depth and complexity of John's jumpers" in " The Sign of Three" while rambling on distractedly during his best man speech at John's wedding.
  • When Sherlock and Irene first meet, one of her first comments is about his razor-sharp cheekbones, saying she could cut herself slapping that face. Those cheekbones have their own little fandom.
  • John's "Asperger's?" remark in "The Hounds of Baskerville" seems to be this.
  • While cuffed together, Sherlock and John have to run while holding hands. John quips, "Now people will really talk."
  • Pretty much everything in "The Empty Hearse", especially Anderson's club devoted to theories about how Sherlock may have faked his death. We also get nods to just about everything the fandom has been known to ship.
• Lying Creator: Oh yes. Par for the course for Steven Moffat. He even admitted he threw things out just to feed fan speculation for Series 3.
• Newbie Boom: More curious people have been watching Sherlock after its near-instant popularity explosion, and many have become part of the fanbase as a result. The books also had one as well - the series actually helped sales of the original books. After BBC Books rushed several tie-in editions into publication, many fans bought them (and enjoyed them immensely) and now a copy of one of the books is pretty much considered essential for any fan's collection.
• Out of Holiday Episode: Sherlock fit a 2016 New Year's Special called "The Abominable Bride" between Series 3 and 4.
• Production Posse: There's a good chance that if someone has worked on Sherlock, they've also done Doctor Who. This also goes for actors, too.
• Quietly Cancelled: After releasing Series 4 in 2017, no word has come of the series since, and the official stance is that it has gone on indefinite hiatus, making it all-but-effectively cancelled.
• Real-Life Relative: The producers have joined in on the good-natured ribbing about how much they keep it in the family when making the show.
  • Amanda Abbington, Martin Freeman's then-partner, was cast as Mary Morstan (John's partner) for Series 3. It makes their chemistry much more natural and believable.
  • Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton, Benedict Cumberbatch's real parents, appear as Sherlock's parents.
  • Steven Moffat's son, Louis Moffat, plays young Sherlock.
• Recycled Script: The first episode "A Study in Pink," is an update of the first Holmes tale "A Study in Scarlet" and the other stories take lots of plot threads and references from several more of the original stories.
• Referenced by...: Has its own page.
• Rereleased for Free: The full series was released on Crackle on April 1, 2022.
• Star-Making Role:
  • Benedict Cumberbatch had been acting for many years prior, but Sherlock was what made him break out into international stardom, earning him BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations and an Emmy win, as well as a massive online fanbase. It also launched a successful movie career for him; 2013 alone had five movies with him.
  • Though not quite to Benedict's level, Andrew Scott's portrayal of Moriarty has received similar critical and fan acclaim and a BAFTA win.
• Technology Marches On: A Study in Pink has Sherlock sending simultaneous texts to the journalists and police officers in the press conference, with a snarky "Wrong!" to counter every statement Lestrade makes. This is framed as a mystery and technological prowess on Sherlock's part, which is rendered quite unimpressive when simultaneous text sending (via apps like Whatsapp or similar) became commonplace just a few years later.^{Fun fact}  This episode aired in 2010. Whatsapp actually launched the previous year.
• Throw It In!:
  • Moriarty wasn't scripted as dancing as he breaks into the glass chamber with the royal jewels, but the music was actually playing on set and Andrew Scott decided to dance anyway.
  • When Sherlock and John are drunk in "The Sign of Three", Sherlock says "I apologize for my... my... him," seemingly unable to come up with the word he wanted to use to describe John (who had fallen asleep when their client was talking). Benedict Cumberbatch had forgotten his line, but they thought it was hilarious and left it in.
• Troubled Production: The first series had quite a few problems going for it, which started with the fact that it was being filmed during one of the coldest winters in the UK in nearly 30 years. This led to Benedict Cumberbatch catching a very dangerous case of pneumonia, and Martin Freeman severely hurting his wrist after slipping on an icy step coming out of his trailer. The second season only faired slightly better, no severe damage, but one day of filming was halted by the London riots.
• Tourist Bump: Speedy's, the restaurant located under Sherlock's flat, is a real place. It has since become a popular place for fans to visit. Some fans have even donated their fan-art, which the owners put on display.
• Uncredited Role: Mark Gatiss' role as Mycroft was this for the first series, as his casting was originally intended as a meta joke. When the character's role expanded in the second series he started getting credited.
• What Could Have Been
  • Matt Smith auditioned to play John, but was turned down for being more of a Sherlock (they also kind of hinted that he might have been Sherlock, except they were already set on giving the part to Benedict). Which, hilariously, is what got him cast as the Eleventh Doctor.
  • When comparing the characterization of Sherlock in the unaired pilot and the canon, Sherlock comes across as far more sympathetic in the pilot. Considering the actions Sherlock is capable and willing to do in the series, this could ironically enough be a way of making him less creepy.

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