Sherlock/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Actor Allusion:
    • One of the books Sherlock pulls in attempting to crack the book cipher is Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species -- Cumberbatch played Joseph Hooker in the Darwin biopic Creation.
    • It may not be deliberate, but one of our first sights of Martin Freeman in the first episode is in a dressing gown and pyjamas. One would assume that he knows where his towel is. In the second episode, Sherlock and John are called to a meeting at Tower 42. (That's its real name, by the way - it has 42 stories, but one assumes the owners knew what they were doing when they renamed it from the NatWest Tower.)
    • Remember Sebastian Wilkes (Bertie Carvel) from "The Blind Banker"? According to him, he and Sherlock graduated from the same university. Watch Hawking and have your minds blown. He's not lying.
    • John also spends an early scene is the second season finale wearing a bathrobe with a towel slung over one shoulder.
    • In John's blog he explains that one of the reasons he didn't post in the time between the first and second seasons was because he was "visiting a mate in New Zealand."
    • During the "memory palace" scene in "The Hounds of Baskerville", one of the words displayed is Ingolstadt, a German city that features prominently in Frankenstein. Benedict Cumberbatch alternated the two lead roles in Danny Boyle's stage adaptation of the novel.
    • Also in "The Hounds of Baskerville", Russell Tovey plays a character who is extremely preoccupied with a fearsome wolf-dog-beast-thing. Not that he'd have any experience with that.
  • Casting Gag:
    • Sherlock's parents are played by Benedict Cumberbatch's real parents.
    • Mary is played by Martin Freeman's real life partner. It makes their chemistry much more natural and believable.
  • Descended Creator: Mycroft is played by Mark Gatiss, who is the co-creator of the series and a writer.
  • Dueling 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. 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:
  • 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.
    • When Sherlock and Irene first meet, one of her first comment 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 "Hounds" 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.
  • Fan Nickname: "Mocklock" has been used in a few comment threads for those that believe that the ambassador's children were kidnapped by someone disguised as Sherlock Holmes, which caused the little girl to freak out when she saw the real Sherlock. Also used to refer to the theory that the dead Sherlock at the end of the episode was a body double, possibly the same body that kidnapped the children.
    • Since the two producers work so closely together on this, their names have slowly condensed from "Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss" to "Moffat and Gatiss" to "Moffat-Gatiss" to finally colliding into "Mofftiss".
  • Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Peter Davison as the planetarium announcer in "The Great Game".
  • Lying Creator: Oh yes. Par for the course for Steven Moffat. He even admits he's throwing 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.
  • Oh Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us: Inverted. Back in July 2011, it was made clear to the Sherlock fandom--especially to the fans on Tumblr--that some of, if not the entire, cast knew about the porn that was being made by said fans [dead link]. (Needless to say, this caused a panic.)
  • 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.
  • 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 partner, has officially been cast as Mary Morstan (John's partner) for Series 3.
    • Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton, Benedict Cumberbatch's real parents, appear to serve the same role as Sherlock's parents.
    • Steven Moffat's son, Louis Moffat, plays young Sherlock.
  • The Red Stapler: The title character's coat was a discontinued, limited edition item. There were so many demands for it after the show aired that Belstaff brought it back.
  • Star-Making Role:
    • Benedict Cumberbatch had been acting for many years prior, but Sherlock was what made him break out into 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.
  • 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.
  • 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).
    • 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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