The
link between Sherlock Holmes and the Doctor can be seen most clearly in the
actors who have played the part. Six 'Doctors' have also
played "the Great Detective"; most famously Peter Cushing, the movie Doctor, in both
Hammer's "Hound of the Baskervilles" and in the BBC's 16
part "Sherlock Holmes" television series in 1968; Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, who played the role for the BBC's 1982
"Hound of the Baskervilles", which reunited him with
Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts, and on stage; and current incumbent, Peter Capaldi,
in an Alexei Sayle sketch. The sextet is completed by the stand-in
Doctors, David Banks (in rep in 1970's), Richard Hurdnall (BBC
Radio's 1959 "Sign of Four" - surprisingly good !), and 'Shalka' Doctor, Richard E. Grant who played Holmes in a drama documentary about Conan Doyle [he has also played Stapleton, Mycroft, and even ACD], whilst referring to his Doctor as 'Sherlock Holmes in space'.
Even Jeremy Brett, thought by
many, including myself, to have been the TV Holmes of his generation,
was considered when the part of the Seventh Doctor was being cast,
without having to undertake a screen test, but turned it down to
continue playing Holmes. [Even recent Holmes Jonny Lee Miller's first screen credit was Fifth Doctor adventure 'Kinda'] But what is the connection between these
seemingly unconnected characters ?
Firstly,
despite the Doctor being from Gallifrey in the constellation of
Kasterborus, there is a quintessential Victorian Englishness about
him, both in his dress (most extremely in "Talons of Weng
Chiang") and in his actions, in particular his supporting of
female companions. He also seems to spend an inordinate amount of
time on Earth, in particular England, with a whole universe to
explore, he always seems to end up in good old Blighty. Sherlock, is
himself, the perfect Victorian English gentlemen helping the many
young girls who come to consult him over lost fiances, unusual
legacies, and speckled bands.
This
brings me on to a second point, both are asexual characters with
large gay and lesbian followings. The Doctor has travelled with no
less than more than thirty lovely young girls in the TARDIS, and with the exception
of Grace, a kiss of delight on the return of his memory, and Rose, the exception to the rule, has in the main not
shown feelings towards them other than that of a concerned travelling
companion. Sherlock was also an asexual man, preferring the company
of his good friend, Watson, in a close but not homosexual
relationship. He left the flirting with clients to Watson, whose
knowledge of women stretched three continents. The accusation of love
towards Irene Adler is unfounded, he had only supreme respect for the
woman, in the same way, the Sixth Doctor expresses respect for "The
Terrible Zodin"
Thirdly,
Sherlock Holmes is one of literature's most well-known eccentrics,
only just surpassed by his cousin on his father's side, Professor
George Edward Challenger. The Doctor is also an eccentric, with his
strange musical talents (recorder and spoons), celery adorned lapel,
bags of jelly babies, and seemingly bottomless pockets, which contain
all manner of useless items. This link has leant many people to label
the Fourth Doctor as the Sherlockian Doctor, as he was the most
obvious eccentric. However, I would argue that the Fourth Doctor is
too loveable an eccentric, and the title of most Sherlockian Doctor
should be given elsewhere, but more of this later.
Fourthly,
there is the importance of companions. In his adventures through time
and space, the Doctor has been joined by over forty travelling
companions, Sherlock however, has been joined for fifty-five of his
sixty canonical adventures by the trusty, Watson. The companion's
role is to stand in for the reader or watcher, and constantly
question what the Doctor is doing, in order that the reader or
watcher understands what is happening. Jo Grant was a prime example
of this, acting in a Watsonesque manner towards the Third Doctor,
neither she, Watson or the Doctor's other companions were imbeciles,
all were of average intelligence, but saddled with an eccentric
genius for a companion.
On
a more flippant note, both characters had at least one Great Hiatus,
when they were feared dead, but whilst Sherlock was thought dead for
three years, the Doctor returned safe and well (for the first time),
a mere eighteen months later. Obviously, Michael Grade was easier to
defeat than the remnants of Moriarty’s criminal organisation.
[However, I write during another hiatus, this time for a year]
Finally,
both are heroes in the old-fashioned sense, going out and righting
wrongs, good triumphing over evil. Both characters are heroes of
their time, or I suppose in the Doctor’s case, of all time. They
stand together with others such as James Bond in the public
consciousness.
However,
every hero needs a villain. Peter Haining in his 1983 book "Doctor
Who: A Celebration" states that "the Doctor and his sworn
enemy the Master are the Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty of our times".
He goes on to state that the Master is "a man of similar
background, equal intelligence and ingenuity" to the Doctor, as
is Moriarty to Holmes. Whilst agreeing with this latter statement,
that Holmes and Moriarty are alike, just on different sides of the
good/evil divide. Even Colin Baker and “Doctor Who” producers
Barry Letts and John Nathan-Turner have identified the Master as a
Moriarty to the Doctor's Holmes. However, this comparison is flawed.
Moriarty only appears in person in one story, and is only definitely
behind one other, whereas the Master has faced the Doctor over thirty
times in the course of 53 years. Moriarty as any good Sherlockian
knows controls the operation, with his agents undertaking the day to
day business of his criminal organisation, and none are traced back
to him, until Mr. Sherlock Holmes enters the fray. Moriarty is closer
in character to the Black Guardian, a largely unseen presence who
uses others, firstly the Shadow, and then Turlough, in his attempts
to defeat the hero, the Doctor.
Much is made of the three Reichenbach
incidents in “The Deadly Assassin”, “Logopolis” and the
“Doctor Who” television movie. The strongest of these is
“Logopolis”, where the Doctor regenerates following his tussle
with the Master on a giant radio mast, as some Sherlockians claim
that Sherlock was not the man he was, on his return from his
explorations as Sigerson. The only other Moriarty-like performance by
the Master is in “Mind of Evil”, when he also sits at the centre
of a web of criminal intrigue, and at the end taunts the hero in a
similar way to his literary counterpart at the end of “The Valley
of Fear”. Having cleared up what I view as an annoying
misconception, I will move onto the twelve Doctors, to find a
candidate for most Sherlockian Doctor.
The
First Doctor, I can say little of, finding his character so
objectionable that I am unable to watch him. His dress is Victorian
in style, and he does appear eccentric and objectionable, which means
he may run the Sixth and Twelfth Doctors close on that aspect. The Second Doctor
is even more eccentric than his predecessor, and looks like Holmes
may have done in one of his down-and-out disguises. He also shows
detective skills in his methodical piecing together of apparently
unconnected clues in “The Faceless Ones”, “The Evil of the
Daleks” and “The Tomb of the Cybermen”.
The
appearance of the Third Doctor is when Sherlockian references begin
to abound. The Doctor’s struggle with the Master, his “Moriarty”
(see above) which takes place within UNIT, where he is aided by the
Brigadier who appears to be a curious blend of both Watson and the
dim-witted Inspector Lestrade. The Third Doctor’s companions, in
particular Jo, also fulfill the Watson role that I have described
above. The climax to the vague Sherlockian allusions in “The
Silurians” and “The Daemons” is “The Curse of Peladon”,
described by some as Baskervillian, in which the Doctor’s tweed
cape comes closest to an approximation of Sherlock. He also
demonstrates martial arts, probably not too disimilar to Sherlock’s
baritsu.
When
the Fourth Doctor began his tenure, he had the most blatant attempt
at Sherlockian characterisation. Leaving aside “Talons of
Weng-Chiang”, which I will discuss in detail in Part 2, the Doctor
refuses to contact the police in “Pyramids of Mars”, as he
believes that they will hamper his investigation, uses his deductive
skills whilst dealing with “The Robots of Death”, and borrows
Sherlock’s decoy effigy trick in “The Deadly Assassin”. The
Fourth Doctor was clearly an eccentric, but was an endearing one,
unlike Sherlock who alienated nearly everyone that he met, apart from
his faithful Watson.
The
Fifth Doctor showed little Sherlockian qualities, despite being
involved in a country house mystery in “Black Orchid”. However,
this was more of an Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple mystery, rather
than a Sherlockian one and it is more by luck than any great
detective work that the Doctor finds himself a free man. The Fifth
Doctor despite being the perfect cricket-playing gentleman shares
little with the master detective, being too nice to annoy anyone.
In
stark contrast is the loud abrasive the Sixth Doctor, as eccentric as any
of his predecessors, but there is little endearing about his
character. In this respect, he mirrors Sherlock. In fact, script
editor Eric Saward (quoted in 'The Sixth Doctor Handbook') stated:
“we were going to try and introduce…..a sort of Holmesian ability
to make extraordinary deductions.” However, whist with Peri, the
Doctor had little chance to show his deductive powers, but on the
Hyperion III in “Terror of the Vervoids”, he shows them as he
notices the fake Mogaran, and finally tracks down the perpetrator of
the deaths on the ship. Although superficially another Agatha
Christie inspired story, with Professor Lasky reading “Murder on
the Orient Express”, it is a Poirot-style story. Hercule Poirot is
an eccentric Belgian detective, who uses his “little grey cells”,
with the aid of his ex-military colleague who has a fondness for the
female of the species. Who then is this based on, but Sherlock ? And
in turn then, “Terror of the Vervoids” owes as much to Conan
Doyle as to Christie. The Sixth Doctor’s wrapping up of the case
is as workman-like as Sherlock’s would have been. However, the only
fly in an otherwise unsullied ointment is that by this time, the
Doctor’s character has mellowed, and is no longer as unfriendly as
before. However, he does still share Sherlock’s habit of
speechifying, his outbursts in the courtroom on Gallifrey equal those
of Sherlock in “The Naval Treaty”.
The
Seventh Doctor despite working with Sherlock in “All Consuming Fire”, and despite being even more English, in spite of his
Scottish twang, than his predecessors, did not demonstrate any more
deductive skills than the majority of his predecessors. The same goes
for the Eighth Doctor, who turns out to be a fan of Sherlock himself,
as he is reading “The Final Problem” at the beginning of the
novel “The Bodysnatchers”.
The
Ninth Doctor, with his non-interventionist actions also bears little
resemblance to the Great Detective, whilst the Tenth Doctor also
finds himself in an Agatha Christie murder-mystery (with Agatha
herself), but again uses little deduction (and is very unlike Sherlock in relation to Rose). The Eleventh Doctor
dresses as Holmes in 'The Snowmen' (where he is up against two Holmes actors, Richard E. Grant & Ian McKellen), but tends to leave many deductions
to the Paternoster Gang (the ones he makes being wide of the mark), save his checking the most opened page in Dr. Simeon's diary. (Matt Smith, however, did audition for the Watson part in 'Sherlock', prior to being cast as the Doctor)
However,
we now find ourselves with another rude genius in the Twelfth Doctor,
who shares many of the Sixth's (and Sherlock's) idiocyncracies,
including speechifying, and rudeness to his sidekick/companion.
However, the Twelfth Doctor may just have the edge with his more
restrained tailoring – Sherlock would never wear a multi-coloured
coat, even if in disguise. Roll on Series 10, then !
In
the second part of this essay, I will look at the “Sherlockian
crossover” stories themselves.
.jpg){kind=link}
