BBC Sherlock Canon References - "The Reichenbach Fall" Season 2 Episode 3

 

The final episode of Season 2 is inspired by the original story: The Final Problem.  Here are the references to Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories:

 

1. Lestrade thanks Holmes for capturing Peter Ricoleti, # 1 in Interpol's Most Wanted List - Holmes mentions about his earlier cases in The Musgrave Ritual: “Here’s the record of the Tarleton murders, and the case of Vamberry, the wine merchant, and the adventure of the old Russian woman, and the singular affair of the aluminium crutch, as well as a full account of Ricoletti of the club-foot, and his abominable wife.”

2.  Holmes is reluctant to wear the Deerstalker. This is a running gag in the second season - This is reference to the fact that Arthur Conan Doyle had not envisioned or written about Holmes wearing the Deerstalker. It was Sidney Paget, the illustrator who create the image of Holmes wearing that particular cap.

3. John asks Sherlock: “Pressing case, is it?”. Sherlock's reply: “They're all pressing 'til they're solved.” – From The Hound of the Baskervilles: “I had waited patiently for the opportunity for I was aware that he would never permit cases to overlap, and that his clear and logical mind would not be drawn from its present work to dwell upon memories of the past.” And “Perhaps you would kindly give me a sketch of the course of events from memory.” “Certainly, though I cannot guarantee that I carry all the facts in my mind. Intense mental concentration has a curious way of blotting out what has passed. The barrister who has his case at his fingers' ends and is able to argue with an expert upon his own subject finds that a week or two of the courts will drive it all out of his head once more. So each of my cases displaces the last, and Mlle. Carere has blurred my recollection of Baskerville Hall. To-morrow some other little problem may be submitted to my notice which will in turn dispossess the fair French lady and the infamous Upwood.”

 
4. Watson referring to Moriarty: “He is back” – Holmes states about Professor Moriarty in The Valley of Fear: “No less! When any of that party talk about “He” you know whom they mean. There is one predominant “He” for all of them.”

5. Sherlock's deduction at Moriarty's crime scene: “not tougher than crystallised carbon. He used a diamond” – Dr Watson mentions that Holmes is a “first-class chemist” in A Study in Scarlet.

6. Press headline referring to Sherlock as “Amateur detective” – In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes is similarly referred to in press coverage of the case: “The man was apprehended, it appears, in the rooms of a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who has himself, as an amateur, shown some talent in the detective line and who, with such instructors, may hope in time to attain to some degree of their skill.”

 

7. Sherlock deducing that Kelly is typing – Reference to a similar deduction about Miss Sutherland from A Case of Identity: “The double line a little above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, was beautifully defined.”

8. Sherlock deducing oil from the printing press from its scent and later smells linseed oil - Holmes has always had a sharp sense of smell. He mentions in The Hound of the Baskervilles: “There are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other, and cases have more than once within my own experience depended upon their prompt recognition.”

 

9. Sherlock deducing based on Kelly’s fingernails - In A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes states: “By a man's finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs - by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed.”

 

10. Kitty's offer of help to Sherlock: “There’s all sorts of gossip in the press about you. Sooner or later you’re gonna need someone on your side.. someone to set the record straight.” - Holmes tells Watson in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons: “The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution if you only know how to use it.”

 

11. Sherlock coaching the attorney about how to question him & mimicking the judge word for word - Dr Watson mentions about Holmes in A Study in Scarlet: “Has a good practical knowledge of British law.”

 

12. Jim Moriarty's line: “Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain” - Holmes expresses his skepticism about the case in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire: “But what do we know about vampires? Does it come within our purview either? Anything is better than stagnation, but really we seem to have been switched on to a Grimms’ fairy tale.”

13. Jim's boast: “I could blow up NATO in alphabetical order” – Holmes states about Professor Moriarty in The Valley of Fear: “The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every deviltry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations—that's the man!”

14. Jim's statements: “The man with the key is King” and “Honey, you should see me in a crown” - Holmes describes Professor Moriarty in The Final Problem: “He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson.”

 

15.  Jim's promise to Sherlock: “I owe you a fall, Sherlock” - Reference to Professor Moriarty's warning to Holmes in The Final Problem: “You hope to beat me. I tell you that you will never beat me. If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you”

16. When discussing about his new neighbors, John speculates that he might be Sherlock's friend. Mycroft laughs and replies: “Of Sherlock’s?” – 

• Dr Watson mentions about Holmes in The Valley of Fear: “Holmes was not prone to friendship….”
• Holmes tells Watson about his network of friends in The Five Orange Pips: “Except you, I have none”
• In The Adventure of the Gloria Scott, Holmes talks about his college days: “I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I never mixed much with the men of my year.”
  

17. Ludmila Dyachenko, the new neighbor who is also an assassin – Reference to the rumor that Ludmilla Hubel, the alleged lover of Archduke John Salvator of Austria was the inspiration for ACD to create the character of Irene Adler

 

18. Sherlock's comment on Anderson's deductions: “Brilliant impression of an idiot” - Dr Watson writes about Holmes in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans: “It was one of my friend's most obvious weaknesses that he was impatient with less alert intelligences than his own.”

 

20. Sherlock deducing that the kidnapped boy was anxious because he was walking on his tiptoe - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes deduces that Sir Charles Baskerville was running for his life based on the fact that his footprints indicated that he was walking on tiptoe down the alley.

 

21. Sherlock's statement: “All the chemical traces on his shoe have been preserved. The sole of the shoe is like a passport. If we’re lucky we can see everything that he’s been up to.” -  Dr Watson writes about Holmes' expertise in A Study in Scarlet: “Geology - Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other.  After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their color and consistence in what part of London he had received them.”

22. Sherlock's comments about the homeless network: “Faster than the police” - In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes speaks highly of the Baker Street Irregulars: “There’s more work to be got out of one of those little beggars than out of a dozen of the force.”

 

23. Sherlock further comments that the homeless network is “far more relaxed about taking bribes” - In The Sign of the Four, Holmes paid an advance of one shilling to each of his Irregulars with the promise of one guinea to the one who finds Mordecai Smith’s boat.
In addition, Holmes has also bribed a number of other characters, including the constable John Rance in A Study in Scarlet, Mrs Mordecai Smith in The Sign of the Four, the cabbie John Clayton in The Hound of the Baskerville.

 

23. Sherlock correctly deducing about mercury poisoning - In A Study in Scarlet, Dr Watson writes that Holmes is “well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally”

24. John asks Sherlock twice not to show too much happiness around the crime scene, since children have been kidnapped - Dr Watson writes about Holmes' reaction to John Hector McFarlane's predicament in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder: “My companion's expressive face showed a sympathy which was not, I am afraid, entirely unmixed with satisfaction.”

I will be listing the remaining references in another post.

Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock.

Image Sources: BBC Wales, Hartswood Films, Masterpiece Theatre

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BBC Sherlock Season 1 Episode # 3 "The Great Game" - Canonical References (Part II)

Dear Readers,

Here is the concluding post of compilation of the references to Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories and novels in the third episode of BBC Sherlock Season 1 “The Great Game”. 

Click here to read the first post.

1. Sherlock's line expressing his lack of knowledge about “Who's Prime Minister or who is sleeping with who..” - Dr John Watson lists the limits to Sherlock Holmes' knowledge in A Study in Scarlet: “Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing”.

2. Sherlock's reply to John in the cab: “Don't know. Dangerous to jump to conclusions. Need data.” - Sherlock Holmes states in A Scandal in Bohemia: “I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”

3. John Watson referring to the fact that he and Mrs Hudson have been watching too much telly – Reference to this exchange from The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor:
Sherlock Holmes: “You have been reading the papers diligently of late, have you not?”
Dr John Watson: “It looks like it,” said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in the corner. “I have had nothing else to do.”

4. Sherlock's line to John after coming out of Kenny Prince's house: “You smell of disinfectant” - Sherlock Holmes mentions in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “I have, as my friend Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of senses, and a faint but incisive scent was apparent.”

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5. Sherlock's comment to Detective Inspector Lestrade: “We’ve been here before. Carl Powers? Tut-tut. Our bomber’s repeated himself.”  - Sherlock Holmes rebukes Inspector Alec MacDonald in The Valley of Fear: “Tut, tut, Mr. Mac!—the first sign of temper I have detected in you.”

6. Sherlock using online gossip to solve the case of Connie Prince – Sherlock Holmes listens to gossip on the streets in A Scandal in Bohemia.

7. John's protests to Sherlock: “There are human lives at stake, Sherlock. Actual human lives. Just so I know, do you care about that at all” – Reference to the line spoken by Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of the Four: “A client is to me a mere unit, a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.”

8. Sherlock's advice to John: “Don’t make people into heroes, John. Heroes don’t exist and if they did, I would not be one of them” – This reminded me of the following line spoken by Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “By cunning questions and ejaculations of wonder he could elevate my simple art, which is but systematized common sense, into a prodigy.”
 

9. Sherlock's observation about Moriarty: “Just once, he put himself in the firing line” – Holmes states about Professor Moriarty in The Final Problem: “But at last he made a trip -- only a little, little trip but it was more than he could afford, when I was so close upon him.”

10. Sherlock's line about Moriarty: “Well, usually, he must stay above it all. He organises these things, but no one ever has direct contact”. Miss Wenceslas, owner of the Hickman Gallery also confirms the same when she says that she never had any “real contact” and that there were “just messages, whispers…” – Sherlock Holmes states about Professor Moriarty in The Final Problem: “He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled, a man to be removed -- the word is passed to the professor, the matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught. In that case money is found for his bail or his defence. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught - never so much as suspected.”

11. Sherlock replies that he has 7 ideas, after inspecting the corpse of a security guard – Sherlock Holmes has a similar exchange with Annie Harrison in The Adventure of the Naval Treaty: “Do you see any clue?” “You have furnished me with seven, but of course I must test them before I can pronounce upon their value.”

12. Sherlock dismisses John's praise of his deductions about the murder of the security guard as “meretricious” – Sherlock Holmes comments about Dr Watson's writing skills in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “Alas, that I should have to show my hand so when I tell my own story! It was by concealing such links in the chain that Watson was enabled to produce his meretricious finales.”

13. Sherlock Holmes gets the information from his informant that the assassin, Golem is hiding in Vauxhall Arches – Dr John Watson mentions in The Sign of the Four: “They landed me at Vauxhall, with my heavy iron box, and with a bluff, genial inspector as my companion.” There are also mentions of Vauxhall Bridge Road in the novel.

14. John is not clear about Sherlock's plans even after they reach Vauxhall Arches and has to ask him: “Anytime, you want to explain?” - Dr John Watson mentions about Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Illustrious Client: “There was a curious secretive streak in the man which led to many dramatic effects, but left even his closest friend guessing as to what his exact plans might be. He pushed to an extreme the axiom that the only safe plotter was he who plotted alone. I was nearer him than anyone else, and yet I was always conscious of the gap between.”

15. Sherlock explains to John, who is surprised after hearing his roommate's appreciation for the beauty of the night sky: “Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it” - Sherlock Holmes has a similar experience with Dr Watson in The Adventure of Black Peter: “Let us walk in these beautiful woods, Watson, and give a few hours to the birds and the flowers.”

16. Sherlock refers to the “Homeless network” as his “eyes and ears all over the city” - Sherlock Holmes explains about the Baker Street Irregulars to Dr Watson in A Study in Scarlet: “These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp as needles, too; all they want is organisation.”

17. Sherlock is seen employing his boxing skills against Golem, the assassin in the planetarium – Dr John Watson lists Sherlock Holmes' skills in A Study in Scarlet: “Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.”

18. Sherlock deducing the presence of a criminal mastermind behind the case of the fake painting as well as the murders of Connie Prince and Carl Powers – From The Final Problem: “Again and again in cases of the most varying sorts -- forgery cases, robberies, murders -- I have felt the presence of this force, and I have deduced its action in many of those undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally consulted.”

19. Sherlock following Watson on the case of the missing defense plans without the latter’s knowledge – In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes sends Dr John Watson to Dartmoor to work on the case and then goes to Dartmoor himself deliberately keeping everyone in the dark about his presence

20. The plot involves the brother of Andrew West’s fiancee stealing the defense plans – In The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, Joseph Harrison steals the titular treaty from the office of his sister's fiance, Percy Phelps.

21. Sherlock informs John that Mycroft threatened him with a knighthood again - In The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, Dr Watson writes: “I remember the date very well, for it was in the same month that Holmes refused a knighthood for services which may perhaps some day be described.”

22. Sherlock's sitting posture at 221 B Baker Street is a reference to Sidney Paget's illustration for Arthur Conan Doyle's story: The Adventure of the Red Headed League

23. Sherlock's exchange with Jim Moriarty: “People told me I don’t have a heart” “We both know that’s not true” - Reference to this line written by Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Three Garridebs: “For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain.”

24. Sherlock's line to John: “All right. Are you all right?”- Sherlock Holmes' line from The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, after Dr Watson gets shot at by Killer Evans: “You’re not hurt, Watson? For God‘s sake, say that you are not hurt!”

25. John's comment to Sherlock: “You ripping my clothes off in a darkened swimming pool” – Reference to Dr Watson's statement about Sherlock Holmes from The Adventure of the Three Garridebs: “He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-knife.”

26. Sherlock calling Jim a “consulting criminal” - Sherlock Holmes makes the following statement about Professor James Moriarty in The Valley of Fear: “"Having an English job to do, they took into partnership, as any foreign criminal could do, this great consultant in crime.”

27. The following exchanges between Sherlock and Jim Moriarty are taken from The Final Problem:

• “Is that British Army Browning L9A1 in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?” –  “It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms in the pocket of one's dressing-gown.” (The Final Problem)
• “Don’t  be silly. Some one else is holding the rifle. I don’t like to get my hands” – “He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized.” (The Final Problem)
• “No one has got close to me. And no one ever will”. – “The agent may be caught. In that case money is found for his bail or his defence. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught -- never so much as suspected.” (The Final Problem)
• “Now you are in my way” - “You stand in the way not merely of an individual but of a mighty organization, the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness, have been unable to realize.” (The Final Problem)
• “You can’t be allowed to continue. You just can’t.” – “It is necessary that you should withdraw” (The Final Problem)
• “Come to warn you. Back off” – “You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,” said he, swaying his face about. “You really must, you know.” (The Final Problem) 
• “I would try to convince you but everything I have to say has already crossed your mind!” “Probably my answer has crossed yours.” - “All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,” said he. “Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,” I replied. (The Final Problem)

I welcome the readers to point out any references that I might have missed.

Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock.

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Image Sources: BBC Wales, Hartswood Films, Masterpiece Theatre

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