Military advisor, who?

[recce43]

I'm just watching Sherlock on BBC 1. The military advisor needs to be sacked. It's not the first time the series doesn't follow military etiquette.

 

An officer who have a cloth cap badge not metal one. And the British army do not salute when not wearing head dress. Dreadful!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hello, recce43 -- welcome to Sherlock Forum!    Glad to see that you've jumped right in and started posting!

 

I know precious little about the British military, but I do know that Sherlock is in a somewhat awkward position, what with trying to be faithful to the Conan Doyle stories and also believable for the current day.  That's why John was in the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, even though there hasn't been such a thing for a number of years.

 

Also, since the show is not primarily about the military, they probably can't really justify having a military adviser on the staff, so they just do the best they know how.  I have similar complaints to yours, regarding the way they talked about cloning in "Hounds" -- but I try (with mixed results) to overlook that on the grounds that they aren't really about science either.

 

 

[Caya]

Hello recce43 and welcome to the forum!

 

Shows often try to balance between what's realistic and what's fun and/or looks good - I know that no one should salute to John out of uniform, but do I ever love seeing that . Regardless, I understand that for an expert, this must be really annoying to watch ... as it is with any topic one has a particular interest in. Ask me about watching Gladiator sometimes, that was painful .

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Which salute are you talking about?  If it is John saluting Major Sholto at the wedding, I think the badge on his hat is actually metal. It has a sheen and a dimensional quality that cloth would not have.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Having actually seen the scene in question now (if you're talking about the wedding), I think the "saluting out of uniform" thing has more to do with mutual respect than it does with military protocol.  Surely that sort of thing happens in real life as well.