Mirrored: 9th of January 2012, 12:00 Original: www.thisislondon.co.uk Views: 77 Settings: Loading the mirror...
* LONDON TODAY: * News * Mobile * What's On Weather Morning: 10DEGc Cloudy Afternoon: 12DEGc Cloudy * E-Edition * Jobs * Dating * Shop * Holidays * Register Skip Navigation London Evening Standard * Home * News * Business * Money * Comment * Sport * Video * Entertainment * Life & Style * Travel * Showbiz * Offers * Games * HOMES & Property * Life & Style * Fashion * Health & Beauty * ES Magazine * Books * Pets * Gadgets * Cars * Dating * Shopping * Stars * Auction Life & Style Life & Style Dr Who Sherlock Holmes At odds: Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch, above left) has the edge over the Doctor (Matt Smith). Inset: Who sidekick Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) Dr Who Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes exterminates Doctor Who: why we're watching the detective Nick Curtis Nick Curtis 6 Jan 2012 The Time Lord has been eclipsed by a very modern Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, now also Star Trek's new villain. Nick Curtis explains why we're now watching the detective. Seldom has a highly unrepresentative straw poll been so accurate. While my 11-year-old nephew Sam declared the Doctor Who Christmas special "a bit boring" and went off to make Plasticine monsters, I and my wife Ann found ourselves repeatedly exclaiming to each other for several days how absolutely bloody brilliant the new Sherlock is. In the first of a new troika of TV films updating Conan Doyle's tales, A Scandal in Belgravia, Benedict Cumberbatch's previously asexual sleuth fell in lust with the lubriciously clever dominatrix/blackmailer Irene Adler and saved her from Islamic execution. Or did he? Either way, it left one panting for the next two episodes. But Doctor Who, in which a bunch of slowly ambulant trees enabled a wartime wife to bring her bomber-pilot husband home? Meh. What's more, Ann and several other women of my acquaintance started making the kind of lascivious and slightly inappropriate comments about Cumberbatch's 'tec that used to go the way of Matt Smith's time traveller. Both shows grabbed remarkable audiences of just under nine million, significantly more than Downton Abbey's Christmas special. But while Sherlock fans were going wild on Twitter and other social networking sites ("my SOUL just orgasmed"), Doctor Who fans expressed confusion or simply stayed silent. In the BBC battle between these two much-loved characters, Sherlock is triumphant and Doctor Who has jumped the Dalek. Why? Elementary, my dear reader... The characters On paper, neither Sherlock nor the Doctor looks like a promising candidate for pan-generational primetime adulation, what with one starting out as a rude, cocaine-injecting Victorian chainsmoker, and the other a crotchety Edwardian geriatric who hid in a blue box with his "granddaughter". Over the years, of course, both have been through more triumphant reinventions than Madonna, and with better facelifts The wide eyes and faintly alien architecture of Smith's skull, and Cumberbatch's puppyish mouth and button nose, give them a shared sense of man-boy otherness. Both characters are unthreateningly attractive partly because they are sexually unreachable. Knights errant, they are denied the common joys of humanity, such as romance, by their intellect and moral heroism. And, in the Doctor's case, by biology. This helps to prevent male viewers resenting them. But Cumberbatch's reading of Sherlock has been a true and momentous reinvention, where Smith is mining a seam of manic intensity already heavily worked by Christopher Ecclestone and David Tennant. Sherlock, triumphantly modernised in 2010, remains recognisably human, if extraordinary - bitchily witty, a master of logic and deduction. The Doctor, involved in increasingly metaphysical stories, is just too weird and strange, reliant on the esoteric magic of his sonic screwdriver. The actors It's not quite the class struggle in microcosm but still * Smith, now 29, had an ordinary upbringing in Northampton, his father the boss of a plastics business, his school a comprehensive. He turned to acting after that other great aspirational dream - of being a professional footballer - was ruined by injury. Cumberbatch is doubly silver-spooned, born into the business as the child of successful TV actors Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton, and educated at Harrow (where his nickname was, apparently, Bend-my-dick Cucumberpatch). Do we see in him a Bullingdon-esque ascendancy of the privileged, treading down the meritocrats who went before? Or am I making too much of this? Whatever: both men are immensely charming and have proved their talent outside their action-packed, star-making roles. Smith won acclaim on stage in Swimming with Sharks, and an Evening Standard Best Newcomer Award in That Face, but was still only 27 when he became the Doctor. Since then, his attempts to avoid stereotyping in the role comprise one drily worthy and barely watched BBC period drama, Christopher and His Kind, with another to come - Bert and Dickie, in which he plays a rower in the 1948 London Olympics. It's too early to tell but the Doctor may well define him professionally, just as his on-off relationship with model Daisy Lowe defines him sexually. Cumberbatch, 35, had a sterling stage career, and had already played Van Gogh, Stephen Hawking and Guy Burgess on screen before he took on Conan Doyle's sleuth. (He had also, following a 2008 discussion with David Tennant, decided not to bid to replace Tennant as the Doctor, which surely makes Smith the poor man's Cumberbatch.) After the success of the first series of Sherlock, he immediately got his kit off on stage in Danny Boyle's acclaimed, and demanding, National Theatre adaptation of Frankenstein, alternating the roles of scientist and creator with Jonny Lee Miller and winning a shared Evening Standard Award in the process. Having also gone dapperly gay in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, he's in two of 2012's most hotly anticipated films, War Horse and The Hobbit (as the voice of the dragon). It has now been announced that he's to play the villain in JJ Abrams's Star Trek sequel, due to start shooting in a few weeks. Early last year he quietly split from his girlfriend of 10 years, writer and actor Olivia Poulet, and later began dating designer Anna Jones. Professionally and romantically, the world seems wide open for Cumberbatch. Though older, he's the coming man. Smith, possibly, has already shot his bolt. The chemistry It's all about unrealised sexual tension. The possibility that the Doctor was keen on any of his comely assistants went unspoken until the issue was blown wide open by the naked, if thwarted, passion between Billie Piper's Rose Tyler and the Christopher Ecclestone/David Tennant incarnations. Things started promisingly for Smith's Doctor when he was paired with the leggy, characterful and apparently up-for-it Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) but he has found himself sidelined since she committed to husband Rory. It's no surprise that the two sidekicks are being written out this year. Doctor Who can't get too raunchy in any case as its earlier time slot means it's still, at heart, a kid's show. Hence the predictable media "fury" over Amy's kissogram miniskirt, and her offering the Doctor a one-night stand. Such behaviour pales rather beside Lara Pulver's Irene Adler ripping through Sherlock's life like a jaguar on heat: parading naked in front of him, sleeping in his bed, teasing him with intellectual frottage, while all the while claiming to be gay. Now that's a woman. The affectionate, exasperated pairing of Cumberbatch's Holmes with Martin Freeman's Dr Watson also makes for the most credible relationship on British TV right now. Cumberbatch also has a fine, mad, charismatic foil in Andrew Scott's Moriarty. The Doctor's foe over Christmas? Er, a galactic logging company. The writing Here's the weird thing: the pen in charge of both shows belongs to Steven Moffatt. The 50-year-old Scot was an occasional writer on Doctor Who when it was first triumphantly resurrected by Russell T Davies in 2005, and became its chief writer, executive producer and showrunner in 2010 when Smith took over the main role and Davies withdrew. That's a long time to try to maintain freshness in a series. The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss, also an occasional writer (and actor) on Who since 2005, cooked up the concept of Sherlock with Moffatt during a trip to Cardiff for the sci-fi series. We can perhaps attribute the current superiority of Sherlock to Gatiss. His novels featuring the sexually ambivalent Edwardian detective Lucifer Box show an acute understanding of the tropes of mystery fiction, and his work with the League was always strong on atmosphere and dark wit. His performance as Sherlock's brother Mycroft is hilarious. The setting Large chunks of both Doctor Who and Sherlock are shot in and around Cardiff, and much play has been made of how this has turned the city into a sort of miniature, damp Hollywood (Llangollywd, perhaps). In Doctor Who, the entire universe looks like Wales. Sherlock, meanwhile, has the whole of modern London to play with. Just think of the use of the Thames and the skyline in A Scandal in Belgravia, the witty exteriors including a down-at-heel Baker Street and the beautiful Georgian interiors of Irene's bondage parlour. Ultimately, perhaps, it's this that makes Sherlock better than Who right now. The Doctor belongs to the universe. Holmes belongs to us. He's a Londoner. The next Sherlock film, The Hounds of Baskerville, is on at 8.30pm on Sunday on BBC1. Dr Who returns later this year IFrame Bookmark and Share Reader views (15) Add your view I watched last nights episode and I thought it absolute rubbish. Badly written amateurly produced badly cast and badly acted!! - des egan, London UK, 09/01/2012 10:17 Report abuse sherlocks shot in cardif?? i dont understand.. how and why would they do that.. they film the 222b baker street outside my work in euston and feature a lot of london in the filming so why film the rest in wales? - anon, london, 07/01/2012 13:03 Report abuse I watched both shows, and I enjoyed them both. I also find both actors attractive. Doctor Who was finishing for the year, and Sherlock just starting. Not really the best vantage point for comparison. And comparing an adult-pitched show with family viewing? Ridiculous. How does Matt's choice of girlfriend define him sexually, and more to the point, why would you want to? That side of his life is no-one's business but his. I would expect that kind of salacious insinuation from a lascivious tabloid hack, I thought that ES had more class. I would watch Sherlock if it had the 13 episode run Doctor Who enjoys, and vice versa. For shame, Sir; this article is offensive to Mr Smith, Mr Moffat and fans of both shows. - Willow, Suffolk, UK, 07/01/2012 11:43 Report abuse The Doctor Who Christmas Special was a pale immitation of itself this year. Sherlock was brilliant. Both shows saw Moffat take a classic work of fiction, and crib from them but with Who, all we got was a twist on the title and some snowy trees. Where were the mystical creatures and talking animals, and MORE importantly, the VILLAINS? It SHOULD have been titled "The Big Blue Box of Delights" but not as many people would have recognised the reference, and Moffat admits to "slutting up" titles that have little or no pay off in the story. (The Doctor was The Caretaker, the Widow WASNT, and the Wardrobe was a cardboard box). Sherlock took the original Doyle story and expanded on it massively. Cute nods like the battered clergyman and the fire scare were balanced by many side plot mysteries all tying in to one Machiavellian over arcing theme that blew pretty much everythiing else on telly away. This was Moffat writing a "stand alone" episode that fit beautifully in to the ongoing plot, allowing ANYONE to jump on board. He stuck to the original and added to it to bring it up to date. he ALSO managed to make it seasonal. Who will ever forget squirming while watching his destruction of Molly over the Christmas present? DW had another storyline where the Doctor coached a struggling parent to "believe". Night Terrors, Closing Time, and all the stuff with Amy/mMlody had rammed that message home well enough last year thanks. More peril, villains and imagination in DW 2012 please - Tommo, Wakefield Uk, 07/01/2012 08:26 Report abuse Doctor Who fans simply stayed silent hahahahahaha well clearly someone hasn't heard of tumblr, I and other whovians have talked about nothing but the Christmas special since the end of series 6. I am personally angry and disgusted by your comments, yes the Christmas special had gigantic wooden people but I'll tell you something have you ever seen anything like it, thought of anything like it, have you ever dreamed in your wildest dreams anything of the sort...I think we all know the answer. Now get out of Cumberbatch's backside and understand real good television. Sincerely A Whovian and Sherlockian. - Adam, Durham, 07/01/2012 01:09 Report abuse I'm just going to agree with the others here: this is silly! There are 2 high-quality shows currently airing. Isn't that cause for celebration? With the drek that covers the majority of the airwaves in the U.S, I'm thankful that BBC America and PBS are running both of these shows. - Alyssa, Redwood City, USA, 06/01/2012 22:22 Report abuse Curtis, Why do you compare two shows as different as chalk and cheese? Both shows are excellent and have merits in the their own right. You make the point that Sherlock in more adult, well of course it is, look at the timeslots! You are an insult to journalism and you dishonour both shows with your ignorance. - Tony Malone, Liverpool, 06/01/2012 22:13 Report abuse This article is so wrong.Doctor Who is a lot better than Sherlock Holmes and always will be.The thing about Doctor Who is,it has variety.Anything can happen in it.You never know what to expect. Doctor Who is the most unique show on TV.There's no other TV show or movie that involves a time travelling police box.It's different to other shows.Plus,there's never a dull moment.There'll never be a episode of Doctor Who that'll make you think it's going downhill,because it isn't. - Sean Bassett, Scarborough, 06/01/2012 21:35 Report abuse Surely people are watching Sherlock right now because a new series has started and it's on TV and they are not watching Doctor Who because the series has ended and therefor not on TV?? - Danie, London, 06/01/2012 21:03 Report abuse I agree with all of the comments above. Even here in America, I have been absolutely blessed and have seen both of these shows. I have always been a fan of Doctor Who, all the way from the classics to the latest series with Matt Smith. When I saw Sherlock recently, I began to love that show too, but the thing is, I never compared them to each other, because they are so different, in cast, characters, and plot. To use polls and viewing rates to compare the two shows does not mean that people automatically consider a comparison between the shows. When forced to make a decision between the two, one would be more likely to pick the newer one, but that does not mean that they dislike the other. If Sherlock is still playing 60 years from now, and Doctor Who comes to an abrupt stop, I may consider what the article is saying. But basing it off of the decisions made by 3 people is not rational. - Kaitlin, United States, 06/01/2012 19:32 Report abuse Chalk and cheese ! I've loved the Doc the last 44 years and didn't even watch Holmes and although that mean I can't sat which was " best " the fact I didn't watch it says something! - Dark Knight, Boston, 06/01/2012 19:29 Report abuse What a shallow, crass and horrible article. The author of this article smacks of being a Cumberbatch 'fanboy' with an altogether weak idea of which show is superior, a feat in itself ridiculous, considering each is aimed at different audiences, Who having to cater for a larger range. Even if the Christmas special was not up to your standard, this cannot mean that Doctor Who is "jumping the Dalek" (a terrible phrase might I add). Your comments on Matt Smith on being second-best to Cumberbatch as a possible Doctor, are frankly inappropriate and I am not sure what an actor's private life has anything to do with the greatness of a show. Instead of unfairly pitching one against the other, we should celebrate the fact that we are able to view two high-quality, different shows. - B.S, London, 06/01/2012 18:25 Report abuse A silly article. So what if an 11 year old found the Doctor Who Christmas special dull, and two like-minded adults prefer Sherlock? I'd rather celebrate the fact that the BBC can produce two such different and brilliant shows. Go back a decade and all we were getting from the BBC were costume dramas and uninspired vehicles for ex-soap stars. Indeed, if it wasn't for the success of Doctor Who the BBC would probably not have invested in Sherlock. - Paul, Southend-on-Sea, 06/01/2012 17:07 Report abuse I don't understand why Nick feels that there is an validity in making a comparison between a post watershed drama aimed squarely at adults to a family-oriented show that airs just after tea time. I think the only reason he is making such comparison because of it's writing connections, which is a fairly tenuous means of comparison at best. Further more, the comment claiming no one was talking about Doctor Who on twitter after it aired on Christmas Day is an out and out lie. In fact Doctor Who was trending a good couple of hours before the special aired and for a good while afterwards, along with a number of other Doctor Who related trends. Telling lies to try and make some kind of argument just makes you look rather foolish, to be honest. In relation to your comparison of projects undertaken by the lead actors in respective shows outside of Sherlock and Who, you conveniently overlook the fact that Smith has spent considerably longer filming for Who than Cumberbatch has for Sherlock, and also that having undertaken two projects outside the show that actually puts him two ahead of what his predecessor in the role managed within the same time frame. In summary: Sherlock is great. Doctor Who is great. Articles like this are pretty pathetic. - Kirsty, Erith, 06/01/2012 16:02 Report abuse Dearie, dearie me, how fickle kids like you are nowadays. When something new comes along you lose interest in everything else. You needn't worry about Matt Smith, he still has millions of fans who love him as the Doctor (also Bafta nominated). They are of all ages. Some are young and drool over him on twitter, some are old and grey like me and love his acting. Strangely enough I also love Steven Moffat's Sherlock. Maybe I have reached an age where one can like two things at once. P.S. I don't know enough about your family to know if it defines you sexually - perhaps you should give us a few more details so that we can make moronic, outrageous comments like that about you. - Susan, London, 06/01/2012 12:18 Report abuse Add your comment Name: _____________________ Town and country: _____________________ Your comment:Terms and conditions _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ Make text area bigger You have characters left. We welcome your opinions. This is a public forum. Libellous and abusive comments are not allowed. Please read our House Rules. [ ] I agree to the House Rules. [ ] Remember me - this will save your name and location for when you leave your next comment. 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