The show would constantly tease more while never answering anything in a satisfying way

Viewers were no longer working out what happened as the protagonists did, but instead had to sit through increasingly ridiculous scenes that often told us nothing of value. Sherlock stopped being a show about two friends who solved mysteries together and instead something overly complicated and frankly less engaging. By the fourth series though, Sherlock was not just a detective who solved mysteries, but a god-like figure who had numerous foes who wanted to destroy him, and a secret family member who was being kept hidden from him, and his best friend’s wife was a former spy who actually… etc. He would observe things others would miss, look at the clues he had found, and then use logic to work out what had happened. The show was set in a different century to the one Conan Doyle described, and of course they had to make some changes for this to work, but ultimately Cumberbatch was playing the same man that the creator had described. I think the most obvious of these issues is that by the end of its fourth series, it was no longer about Sherlock as a detective. Nonetheless, I think there are areas where the show could have been improved, or indeed could still be improved if it ever does find its way back onto our screens.īy the end of its fourth series, it was no longer about Sherlock as a detective Both men have made some truly fantastic pieces of drama, so this isn’t going to be some clickbait-esque ‘MOFFAT IS AWFUL’ analysis. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss got a lot right when adapting the stories. I want to make it clear that I don’t think Sherlock is a bad show, and there’s plenty to like about it.

How did a drama that started so well end up here? Four years on and with no new season announced, can the mystery of what happened to Sherlock be solved?

Yet while the first two series were met with acclaim, its third and fourth series were not so well received. One of the most popular adaptations is the 2010 BBC television series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Dr John Watson, respectively.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is, according to Guinness World Records, the most portrayed literary human character in film and television.

Sherlock the sign of four