Sherlockian Sojourns #60: As Seen on Screen – Elementary London

‘Elementary’, the US modern-day Sherlock Holmes series created in 2012 by Robert Doherty, is set (and filmed) in New York, but featured London (as itself) in three episodes: ‘Step Nine’ in 2013, ‘Whatever Remains, However Improbable’ in 2018, and ‘The Further Adventures’ in 2019.  I therefore decided to visit the London filming locations.

Catching the Northern Line to London Bridge, I made my way over the bridge, to Lower Thames Street (previously visited as the location of ‘The Bar of Gold’ in ‘The Man With The Twisted Lip’). I was looking for the driveway next to #30, which appeared as New Scotland Yard in ‘Step Nine’, the first episode of Season Two (2013). Having just arrived in London from New York, Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan (Lucy Liu) get out of their taxi here (having seemingly just driven past Buckingham Palace [also seen in 'Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia'] then over Westminster Bridge). This is not the real New Scotland Yard, and the building used for the filming was destroyed in 2014. However, the driveway to the Thames quays remains. It was here that they met with DCI Hopkins (Tim McMullan) overlooking the Thames, with both Tower Bridge and the Shard being clearly visible.

     

Retracing my steps, I made my way back to Monument Station which I had passed on turning right from the bridge. From here, after quite a wait, I caught a #388 bus to Brick Lane, alighting outside Rich Mix, an arts venue that I had attended to watch the film, ‘Containment’ starring Sherlock’s Louise Brealey. A very short walk brought me to Redchurch Street, and then the corner with Turville Street. This appeared as Baker Street in ‘Step Nine’, with Sherlock taking Joan to his former home at 221B Baker Street to settle down, being surprised to find a completely renovated apartment inhabited by his brother, Mycroft (Rhys Ifans). The off-licence seen in the episode is long closed, but 221b itself, a former Truman Brewery pub with its green tiles, now the location of ‘Labour and Wait’ a high-end household goods store remains.

     

Catching a bus back to Liverpool Street Station, I changed onto the Central Line for the short journey to Holborn. Having picked up some lunch, I made my way to nearby Bloomsbury Square, where the ending to Season 6 was filmed.  In ‘Whatever Remains, However Improbable’, the final episode of the season 6 (and at that time believed to be the last ever episode), Sherlock returns to ‘Baker Street’ to set up his London practice again. It was buildings in this square that represented 221B (and 221A which Joan took over), with some CGI’d additions. The square also appears as Baker Street in ‘The Further Adventures’, the first episode of unexpected Season 7, prior to his returning to New York, including the scene on a bench where Sherlock eats an ice cream with Kitty’s son, Archie.

After around a twenty minute walk, I found myself at Trafalgar Square (which also features in ‘Sherlock: The Blind Banker’ & ‘Sherlock: The Reichenbach Fall’). In ‘Step Nine’, Sherlock leads Joan into Trafalgar Square, carrying two large poster boards which asks for a list of all 3D printers sold in the last 18 months. He holds them up to a surveillance camera and loudly announces his name. After waiting for hours, Joan is bumped into and the list is placed in her handbag by 'Langdale Pike'.   [In ‘The Noble Bachelor’, Holmes suggests that Lestrade drag the Square’s fountain, as he is as likely to find the missing bride there as in the Serpentine.]

I then made my way to the nearby Charing Cross Station, catching the Bakerloo line to Paddington Station, making my way to Platforms 6 & 7. Once the investigation is complete in Step Nine’, Sherlock joins Joan here to take the Heathrow Express to catch their plane home.

   

Making my way to the recently opened Elizabeth Line, I caught a train to Farringdon, where I just missed a train to Maze Hill. After a half-hour wait, I finally caught a Thameslink train. From Maze Hill it was a ten minute walk to my final destination of the day, the Trafalgar Tavern, located just next to Greenwich’s National Maritime Museum. This pub appeared as ‘The John Harington’ (an Elizabethan courtier who invented the first flushing lavatory) in ‘Step Nine’, being where Sherlock locates Gareth Lestrade  (Sean Pertwee). The pub was very busy and it was difficult to take a suitable photo, but I managed, including ones of the nearby railings behind which Lestrade is filmed when talking to Holmes.

  

Retracing my steps back to the station, I caught a train back to London Bridge, then home via the Northern line.

 

Sherlockian Sojourns #59: 'Desiring a Twenty-Mile Ride' [MISS]

After two days’ rest it was time for another sojourn, a return to Cambridge and other sites of ‘The Missing Three-Quarter’ not visited on the previous occasion, focusing on Dr. Leslie Armstrong and the journey of 10 or 12 miles that he leads Holmes on.

 

SIR:
I can assure you that you are wasting your time in dogging my movements. I have, as you discovered last night, a window at the back of my brougham, and if you desire a twenty-mile ride which will lead you to the spot from which you started, you have only to follow me. Meanwhile, I can inform you that no spying upon me can in any way help Mr. Godfrey Staunton, and I am convinced that the best service you can do to that gentleman is to return at once to London and to report to your employer that you are unable to trace him. Your time in Cambridge will certainly be wasted.

Yours faithfully,

LESLIE ARMSTRONG.

 

Catching a train from London Liverpool Street, I arrived again at Cambridge Station where Holmes and Watson did in the story. The station opened in 1845. Although remodelled in 1863 and 1908 the station buildings are contemporary with the story. The station hosts the third longest railway platform in the UK.

 

   

From here I caught a bus to the far side of the city centre, and after a short walk, reached my first port of call, the Museum of Cambridge. The museum is a Grade II listed 16th century former coaching inn, and over three floors hosting over 40,000 objects related to the everyday life, customs, and traditions of the local people of the Cambridgeshire area, represents over 300 years of local history.

The reason for my visit was that museum was hosting an exhibition, “Agatha Christie: Her Life and Characters”, with the large private collection of Gale Goddard - books, clothing and character ephemera - being on display in one of the upper rooms.

        

Having made straight for the ‘Agatha Christie’ exhibition, I then wandered around the other rooms of the museum.

        

Leaving the museum, and wandering along the side of the Cam, after around fifteen minutes walk, I reached the first of the ‘Missing Three-Quarter’ sites. This was the village of Chesterton, which is one of the villages listed by Holmes as he follows upon the tracks of Armstrong, searching for Godfrey Staunton. The former villages visited by Holmes have been almost entirely subsumed in the growth of the modern city of Cambridge, with only a few traces of the former countryside. However, I managed to take photos of a village green and St. Andrew’s Church, Chesterton.

Retracing some of my route I found that the bus stop that I intended to use to get to my next village was ‘out of service’ and had to continue walking for another ten minutes to get to the previous one. From here I caught a bus along Cambridge’s Busway, the longest guided busway in the world which connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives, to Oakington, another of the villages listed by Holmes.

  

Photos taken, and I was getting back onto the Busway, back one stop to Histon and Impington, the former being another of the villages listed by Holmes.

Catching a bus back into central Cambridge, I alighted just by Sidney Sussex College, identified by Dorothy L. Sayers as Holmes’ college as it ‘offered the greatest number of advantages to a man in Holmes' position’.

Another short walk brought me to Trinity College, the college of both Cyril Overton and Jeremy Dixon in ‘The Missing Three-Quarter’.

Continuing on, after around fifteen more minutes, I reached Trumpington Road. In ‘The Missing Three-Quarter’, the home of Dr Leslie Armstrong, head of Cambridge University Medical School, is described as ‘a large mansion in the busiest thoroughfare’.  Scholars have concluded that this is most likely a description of a large townhouse on the busy Trumpington Road. Armstrong was initially taken by Holmes to be his antagonist, but was found to be assisting the missing Godfrey Staunton and his very ill wife. Having identified such a townhouse, I took several photos.

I then waited and waited for a bus back to the Railway Station, with at least one service being cancelled. I therefore arrived back too late for my planned train to Waterbeach, the final village listed by Holmes.

Instead, I caught a train back to London, where my evening was spent at the Criterion Theatre (just next to where Watson met Stamford) in watching ‘The Way Old Friends Do’, written by and starring Ian Hallard (Jim Moriarty’s defence solicitor in ‘The Reichenbach Fall’), and directed by Ian’s husband, Mark ‘Mycroft’ Gatiss. The performance which was excellent, ended with a post-show Q&A with Ian and Mark, and I managed to get a photo with Ian at the stage door and Mark to sign a photo of himself as Mycroft.