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Seeing Sherlock Everywhere..


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[inspector] Morse was actually an ITV show, as is Lewis the current spin-off starring Kevin Whately as [Now Inspector] Lewis, and Laurence Fox as his sidekick colleague Detective Sergeant James Hathaway.

 

If you've not seen Lewis, I do recommend it as I think they've done an amazing job in getting around the deaths of both the Morse character and John Thaw, the actor who portrayed him for so many years.

 

 

:)

 

Thanks for the information. I've been to UK every year for the past 30 years and never realized that ITV was not a part of the BBC. Just assumed they were another studio making shows for BBC.

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The BBC is our publicly funded broadcaster, paid for by the money from our TV Licence as well as government grants. Whereas ITV is our main commercial network, on which programmes are funded entirely by advertising revenue.

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Speaking of book recommendations, thanks again for the Dirk Gently mention, SherLOCKED.

I did love the show, a pity it ended! :(

 

I've read both (that's all, right?) books and enjoyed them greatly. By the way, judging by your descriptions of the TV show, it's not real similar to the books.

Yes, just the two. Douglas Adams died while working on the third.

 

By the way, judging by your descriptions of the TV show, it's not real similar to the books.

No, not very close to the books. It's more like, same characters, different adventures. Although his background story is very similar (except

he was sent to prison in the book and was just kicked out of school in the series)

 

 

 

Oh and on a side note: Has anyone had a chance to see the *relatively* new show SPY.?

It stars Darren Boyd; he played Richard MacDuff in Dirk Gently.

Bloody hilarious, with the same kind of humour that Dirk Gently possessed. :lol:

 

IMDb's synopsis:

Tim is in a custody battle with his ex-wife, when he quits his job. He applies for a job as a civil servant doing data entry, but accidentally applies for MI5. After testing higher than any other recruit he is offered a job, as a SPY.

 

I thought it sounded great and it is! :D

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Anyone seen Endeavour? It's the prequel to the Inspector Morse series, although it came out recently. It was rather good, I'd seen a few of the Morses and thought it did a good job of not only showing what he was like before all of that, but adding the characteristics we're familiar with in Morse. There was one specific part where most of you who have emotional tendencies may be inclined to have them there.

Inspector Thursday asks Morse where he sees himself in twenty years, looks in the mirror of the car, and the reflection at first is him and then John Thaw, who played Inspector Morse in the series. And the original Morse theme even plays once it's him. It's a bit upsetting considering he's passed, but we will never forget him.

Shaun Evans plays Detective Constable Endeavour Morse in this, Roger Allam plays Detective Inspector Fred Thursday, Danny Webb plays Detective Sergeant Arthur Lott (who has a connection which my aquaintance is working on putting up. Speaking of my aquaintance, does anyone know the episode of Marple titled Murder is Easy; not the novel as it differs; with Julia Mackenzie as Miss Marple? She needs some assistance and it would help a great deal if anyone could give specifics on that.), and a lot of other people. Including John Thaw's daughter, Abigail Thaw. If you haven't seen Endeavour and you like Inspector Morse, I would actually recommend seeing it. It explains a lot of things that were left in the dark in Morse, and still leaves a little mystery to be solved.

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Oh and on a side note: Has anyone had a chance to see the *relatively* new show SPY.?

It stars Darren Boyd; he played Richard MacDuff in Dirk Gently.

Bloody hilarious, with the same kind of humour that Dirk Gently possessed. :lol:

 

IMDb's synopsis:

Tim is in a custody battle with his ex-wife, when he quits his job. He applies for a job as a civil servant doing data entry, but accidentally applies for MI5. After testing higher than any other recruit he is offered a job, as a SPY.

 

I thought it sounded great and it is! :D

 

I love fish-out-of-water stories, and this one sounds hilarious! I see that it's available on Region 2 DVD (Series 1 now, Series 2 for pre-order), and the reviews are good.

 

If Boyd's MacDuff is anything like my mental image, I'm guessing that the two characters are fairly similar.

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I thought of another angle in "seeing Sherlock everywhere". Holmesian references in modern day detective stories. There is a series put out by Andrew M. Greeley. His main character is a Roman Catholic bishop that goes by the name Blackie, in one book written in 2002, he describes one of his characters, "Mike the Cop" as looking like Basil Rathbone playing Sherlock Holmes.

 

I am currently reading a mystery that takes place out in Wyoming written in 2005 titled "The Cold Dish". It has this Holmesian reference.

 

"About halfway across the elevated dining room in the archway to the left, he stood looking at me. He hadn't made a sound as we pulled up, hadn't made a sound when I opened the door, not even when I brought her in and laid her on the sofa. That's what worried me. Here, at Portugee Gulch amid the fog of Piney Creek, stood the Hound of the Baskervilles."

 

And the story is thoroughly modern. Nothing period or English about it except this.

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Totally off topic, but your Holmes nuggets remind me of how thrilled I am whenever I hear an offhand Star Trek reference. Back when the original series got cancelled by NBC, we fans were convinced that it would be back, somehow, someday. It took years, but first there were the original-cast movies, then the spin-off television programs, and now the reboot movies.

 

But somehow it's those offhand references to the original series that really make the chills run down my spine. When John called Sherlock "Spock" in "Hounds of Baskerville," I heard it with my back-then ears, and a voice inside me said "See? I told you so!" I mean, here's a scene in a British television program, with two actors casually referring to an American program that was cancelled as a failure before they were even born. Star Trek has -- like Sherlock Holmes (ha! I'm not off-topic after all) -- clearly become part of the popular culture.

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  • 2 weeks later...

"I hear of Sherlock everywhere, since you became his biographer!"

 

- Mycroft Holmes.

 

To me, the biggest Holmes-alike in today's world is Patrick Jane, of "The Mentalist". To me, the comparison is obvious. That, and Dr. House, although he deals with medicine instead of crime.

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  • 1 year later...

One of the American 'whodunnit' crime (with supposed comedic strains) is 'Diagnosis Murder' by the Dick Van Dyke clan.  His son, Barry, is in it and probably the family dog is on the payroll too. I tried to avoid it when possible!!! :lol:

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I prefer the 'Lewis' and 'Endeavour' series to the 'Morse' ones because I like the characters in 'Lewis' better and because 'Endeavour' is Morse as a young policeman, set in the sixties.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endeavour_%28T     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_%28TV_series%29

6499526d.jpg                                 Lewis.jpg

 

 

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I've never read Dirk Gently, though I've obviously heard of it. I'm more familiar with The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

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They're ... different from the Hitchhiker Trilogy. I love them, but I'm a Douglas Adams groupie, so I'm not sure if that counts as a bona fide recommendation ;). Certainly got amazing characters, not only Dirk himself but also the secondary cast ... both are complete stories in themselves, though, and have only Dirk in common, sadly.

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I bought a book of daily readings by the Persian poet, 'Hafiz', translated by Daniel Ladinsky. I found this little shout out to Doyle and Sherlock Holmes in the Forward: "Hafiz's poems were also admired by such diverse notables Nietzsche and Arthur Conan Doyle, whose wonderful character Sherlock Holmes quotes Hafiz."

 

    Hafiz is mentioned in "A Case of Identity".

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  • 10 months later...

Dear Caya, there is also the unfinished third novel in the Dirk Gently series, The Salmon of Doubt, which was published in 2002, although I must say that The long, dark teatime of the soul appeals more to me because of my love of Wagner, and his hilarious take on Wotan and Thor.

And everyone should remember the original warning: A trilogy in four parts, which eventually became five, for the most famous quotation out there: Don't Panic, and it is really good to see Martin Freeman in such a role!

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Thanks, Anna -- I didn't know there was another one.  Even though it's unfinished, I doubt that it would seem too much different from his other novels on that account.

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Oh, it's lovely, I have read it several times, it has his plot outlines and everything, even better than the Mystery of Edwin Drood!

P. S. Still trying to find the best way to ask about Sherlock and Hathaway.

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Thanks, Anna -- I didn't know there was another one.  Even though it's unfinished, I doubt that it would seem too much different from his other novels on that account.

By the way, Carol, you don't really need subtitles for Rumpo le, simply read the relevant story and then watch it, the dialogue and his reveries are almost verbatim, because John Mortimer was pretty hands on throughout the production, even making cameo appearances, like during the Erskine-Brown wedding and Rump ole on Trial. I have watched them at least ten times more than Sherlock, but I could not so easily do a transcript for you as Arian de Vere did for Sherlock due to my work. But if you find it such a great obstacle in enjoying a brilliant series, I can ask some friends and see what we can come up with, share the workload, perhaps.

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... you don't really need subtitles for Rumpole, simply read the relevant story and then watch it, the dialogue and his reveries are almost verbatim, because John Mortimer was pretty hands on throughout the production, even making cameo appearances, like during the Erskine-Brown wedding and Rumpole on Trial.

Hey, thanks for the tip! I hadn't thought of that, nor realized that there was such a close correlation, but I do have my father's Rumpole books, which include 31 stories, apparently leaving only 11 of the 42 episodes without a match. Time to hit the used book store again!

 

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  • 2 months later...

I prefer the 'Lewis' and 'Endeavour' series to the 'Morse' ones because I like the characters in 'Lewis' better and because 'Endeavour' is Morse as a young policeman, set in the sixties.

I actually love the "Endeavour" series and was at some point absolutely addicted to it, although I have never seen "Morse"

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  • 4 months later...

... there is also the unfinished third novel in the Dirk Gently series, The Salmon of Doubt, which was published in 2002....

 

Thanks for that information, Anna -- I finally found it (in my favorite used-book store) today, and am looking forward to reading it!

 

Added:  Oops -- nope, sorry!  I looked for it again, but still haven't found it.  What I actually found was another book I was despairing of ever finding, so I'm happy!  And I obviously need to go to bed!

 

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  • 8 months later...

This thread was inspired by "Dirk Gently" and there's been a good bit of discussion of both the books and an earlier television series.  I just ran across an announcement of an upcoming "Dirk Gently" series on BBC America -- though I may have seen it mentioned somewhere before.  Gently's assistant is to be played by Elijah Wood (alias Frodo).

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  • 2 months later...

We've already mentioned Monk several times in this thread. Alex and I just watched the "extras" on the season 1 DVD, and the producer told how the show came to be. The network contacted him because they wanted a show about a Clouseau-type quirky policeman, and they had Michael Richards in mind for the lead. (Assuming that they wanted Richards because they'd seen him as Kramer on Seinfeld, they were apparently envisioning a fairly broad comedy.) But Richards wasn't interested. At that point, the producer contacted a writer that he knew, and they sort of started over from the Clouseau idea.

 

The writer was a big Sherlock Holmes fan, and said he'd always been intrigued by the idea that he was not only the smartest man in the room, but also the most messed-up man in the room. Then they were able to get Tony Shalhoub for the role, and things just progressed from there.

 

So yes, Adrian Monk is intentionally something of a Holmes clone, with an obsessive-compulsive twist.

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