What would you like to see in series 4?

[Carol the Dabbler]

As UK law stands at the moment, I don't think "consulting detective" has any legal status.

Sherlock also takes private cases, though (i.e., for non-governmental clients), so I assume he is officially considered a private detective. My basic point was that this presumably makes it even harder for him to "get away" with much of anything (compared to an average citizen), because his professional standing is at stake.  And if/when the UK actually gets around to licensing P.I.'s, he could also lose his license.

 

It seems that Mycroft is the Fairy Godmother in this type of situation, due to his undefined role in the government. .... I wonder what his job title might be?

He probably has some harmless little title. As I recall, the original Mycroft was officially some sort of government accountant.

[Slithytove]

I don't think, at the moment, being a private detective has any status whatsoever. Anyone can set themselves up in that role, so there is really nothing official about it. Until the new law is introduced, I could call myself a private detective and take on cases if I wanted.

 

Obviously It will be different when licenses are introduced. Can you imagine Sherlock going through the application process? How many people would he manage to enrage? Surely Mycroft will end up having to pull strings and get the licence for him!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Or Sherlock's contact in the Home Office and or "The Palace".

[T.o.b.y]

I don't think they'll concern themselves much with real-life legal aspects of detective work. "Sherlock" seems to take place in a world that looks like our own but has its own set of rules. Which is fine with me. I like fiction to be "not so much a picture of life as a living alternative to it", as a clever person who wrote an afterword to one of my Dickens novels put it.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Absolutely, if I couldn't step away from reality, I probably wouldn't read fiction at all.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I do like my fiction to be basically realistic, though.

 

I believe that Slithytove is correct in saying that Private Detective is still a legally nebulous term in the UK.  (Hey, congratulations on your nice new avatar!)  So right, Sherlock is operating under the same legal restraints as any other private citizen.  And he likes to think of himself as above such pettiness as caring what other people think of him.

 

Nevertheless, his professional standing -- his reputation -- would suffer if he were publicly branded as a murderer.  He'd lose a lot of potential clients.

 

[T.o.b.y]

I do like my fiction to be basically realistic, though.

 

I like it to be believable. Which is the easier the more realistic things are, usually. I often use "realistic" as praise, but what I really want is something that feels real but is better than the reality I walk around in each and every day. It seems kind of a waste of creative power to me when people turn out mere copies of what they see out their windows every day or if they produce art which is downright worse.

 

[Alex the Dabbler]

This article includes Steven Moffat's plans for Moriarty in Series 4:

 

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sherlock-season-4-steven-moffat-reveals-moriarty-plans-more-female-characters-new-episodes-1438448

[Caya]

Thank you, Alex!

 

 

 

The show's female cast might also get stronger with Moffat referring to Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) and Mrs Hudson's (Una Stubbs) characters being developed more in the new season.

 

I have a very bad feeling about this .

[T.o.b.y]

Thank you, Alex!

 

 

 

The show's female cast might also get stronger with Moffat referring to Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) and Mrs Hudson's (Una Stubbs) characters being developed more in the new season.

 

I have a very bad feeling about this .

 

 

Uh-huh... And what does he mean:

 

"Every time we bring a woman into Sherlock, it works hugely well."

 

Works for who? I think some people might not entirely agree on that one, Mr M. ...

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

... what does he mean:

 

"Every time we bring a woman into Sherlock, it works hugely well."

 

I can't imagine him saying anything about what happens "when we bring a man in."

 

I'm not sure whether he thinks of us as an exotic species (versus men, who are "normal"), or thinks of us all as kind of interchangeable.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Well, when given that choice, I'd prefer to be a member of an exotic species...

 

To be fair, I think he might have meant bringing a woman into a fictional cast that was originally almost all male.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

What I would like to see in Season Four is "The Voice" "Warbling like a lark" in a cab.

[Arcadia]

Oh God yes.

[Slithytove]

I'm ashamed to say I would listen to that beautiful voice reciting anything at all. (Singing would be fantastic.). My family find this extremely amusing.

 

Stephen Moffat really is a little fibber, isn't he, telling us that Moriarty would never return, and now saying it was planned all along? God knows what they've really got planned.

 

It is interesting that they plan to develop Molly and Hudders a bit more in S4, as they are the two female characters in Sherlock that don't fall into the Dull Girlfriend or Wicked Woman categories. ( Janine has potential to be a three-dimensional character, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if she turns out to be Wicked.) I hope that developing the characters doesn't mean messing them up. There aren't that many strong older female roles on tv, outside the soaps, so it would be great if they allowed Mrs Hudson a moment of glory.

[Carol the Dabbler]

It is interesting that they plan to develop Molly and Hudders a bit more in S4, as they are the two female characters in Sherlock that don't fall into the Dull Girlfriend or Wicked Woman categories.

 

Yet.

[Alex the Dabbler]

Speaking of wicked women in Sherlock, Radio Times has an article on one of them who might be brought back:

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-03-06/lara-pulver-acting-opposite-benedict-cumberbatch-and-martin-freeman-was-thrilling

[T.o.b.y]

Well, if they're bringing back Moriarty, then why not Irene as well. It hardly matters about romance when not even death is given its due.

 

By the way, if Moriarty does reappear, then maybe at least we'll get more insight on The Reichenbach Fall, I hope. It would be very interesting to hear his side of the matter.

 

 

[Alex the Dabbler]

No surprise here, but in this Radio Times article, Mark Gatiss confirms that if Benedict Cumberbatch can no longer play Sherlock, the show is finished (I would assume that the same applies to Martin Freeman's John Watson):

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-03-10/benedict-cumberbatch-is-irreplaceable-as-sherlock-says-mark-gatiss

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I think that was talked about early on as well. That if anything happened to Cumberbatch or Freeman, the parts would not be recast. But as least the article iterates that both actors still do want to continue.

[T.o.b.y]

I think that was talked about early on as well. That if anything happened to Cumberbatch or Freeman, the parts would not be recast. But as least the article iterates that both actors still do want to continue.

 

Well, thank goodness for both of those statements. Actually, re-casting anybody on the show would be a horrible idea. If any minor character left, they'd have to find a way to explain that "in universe" and leave him or her out, and if one of the leads laid down the role, that would be it. Thank goodness it doesn't seem like they will. And if it takes two more years, so be it. I'd rather have a good series 4 after a long wait than a slapdash mediocre one after a few months. And I wouldn't complain either if they never did a series 5 and so on, provided they find a good place to stop without too many unfinished plotlines.

 

Theoretically, I'd even be content to stop watching now. Every series has managed to have a cliffhanger ending as well as tell a more or less complete story. And Sherlock's plane turning around because England has decided it needs him and probably always will - that's a pretty decent last image for my mind. Better by far than any of Doyle's ideas!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

It seems to me, anyway, that the plane returning may have been filmed before they started brainstorming for Seasons Four and Five?  The probability of there being more seasons is always there, the question is always, when.  Aren't there sometimes long hiatus's in Dr. Who?

[Alex the Dabbler]

Yes, Moffat & Gatiss should take their time and make series 4 the best yet and give me and Carol time to plan and save up for a visit to the UK when they're filming series 4 (hopefully next year).

[T.o.b.y]

The best yet... I don't believe they could make anything better in my eyes than series 1. All I'm hoping for is that series 4 won't be any worse than series 3. I'd rather have no sequels at all than what I would consider "bad" ones...

 

P.S.: I love series 3 by this time, don't get me wrong.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... re-casting anybody on the show would be a horrible idea....

 

Theoretically, I'd even be content to stop watching now....

 

Agreed! But that's all just theoretical, of course. More is good -- just as long as it is good.