142
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
Journalist Kitty Reilly is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, initially asking Sherlock
to sign her shirt but then, when Sherlock penetrates her disguise, shifting
register into what sounds like a well-worn tabloid journalist’s pitch, a smallerscale version of Magnussen’s blackmailing: “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.” 35 When she adds, “I’m smart, and you
can trust me […] totally,” we know to expect that by the end of the episode
Kitty will have been revealed to be double-crossing, and to be quite gullible
in siding with Moriarty, who is posing as the innocent actor Rich Brook.
This reflection on series two from the perspective of the series three
finale, then, reveals that in both series newspapers were meant to be the
weapon to bring about Sherlock’s ruin. In both series finales, Sherlock is
being pressured or blackmailed into losing life or liberty to protect his
friends. The format limitations which Sherlock has had imposed on it from
series one – only three ninety-minute episodes per series – perhaps help to
explain why this formula has repeated itself across the series two and three
climaxes. Especially given the necessity, in series three, of reuniting Sherlock
and John, introducing Mary, having John marry her, and revealing her past,
there was relatively little space to develop an overarching villain figure.
Given this packed itinerary, introducing a newspaper proprietor as villain
was topical, considering the correspondences with the Leveson Inquiry. As
noted, the idea was also a familiar one, in that Sherlock’s revulsion against
the popular news media was already a well-established trope in the show.
He seeks information in the public interest; they, Sherlock’s rhetoric implies,
make up stories to sell copies. Good journalism should be detective work, but
with the news media in its current sick state, the true detective is mocked
like a prophet in the wilderness.
The Spoof Newspapers
Having analyzed series three’s “headline” attack on the press, we might
now examine a related incident, which created a minor furor in the pages
of the Daily Mail newspaper when the episode aired. At the beginning of
“The Sign of Three,” the second episode of series three, we are shown a
series of occasions on which Inspector Lestrade fails to apprehend a group
of high-profile thieves, the Waters gang. Each time, we see the relevant
newspaper front pages, which superficially catalogue the unbroken run of
35 Sherlock, “The Reichenbach Fall.”
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
Journalist Kitty Reilly is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, initially asking Sherlock
to sign her shirt but then, when Sherlock penetrates her disguise, shifting
register into what sounds like a well-worn tabloid journalist’s pitch, a smallerscale version of Magnussen’s blackmailing: “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.” 35 When she adds, “I’m smart, and you
can trust me […] totally,” we know to expect that by the end of the episode
Kitty will have been revealed to be double-crossing, and to be quite gullible
in siding with Moriarty, who is posing as the innocent actor Rich Brook.
This reflection on series two from the perspective of the series three
finale, then, reveals that in both series newspapers were meant to be the
weapon to bring about Sherlock’s ruin. In both series finales, Sherlock is
being pressured or blackmailed into losing life or liberty to protect his
friends. The format limitations which Sherlock has had imposed on it from
series one – only three ninety-minute episodes per series – perhaps help to
explain why this formula has repeated itself across the series two and three
climaxes. Especially given the necessity, in series three, of reuniting Sherlock
and John, introducing Mary, having John marry her, and revealing her past,
there was relatively little space to develop an overarching villain figure.
Given this packed itinerary, introducing a newspaper proprietor as villain
was topical, considering the correspondences with the Leveson Inquiry. As
noted, the idea was also a familiar one, in that Sherlock’s revulsion against
the popular news media was already a well-established trope in the show.
He seeks information in the public interest; they, Sherlock’s rhetoric implies,
make up stories to sell copies. Good journalism should be detective work, but
with the news media in its current sick state, the true detective is mocked
like a prophet in the wilderness.
The Spoof Newspapers
Having analyzed series three’s “headline” attack on the press, we might
now examine a related incident, which created a minor furor in the pages
of the Daily Mail newspaper when the episode aired. At the beginning of
“The Sign of Three,” the second episode of series three, we are shown a
series of occasions on which Inspector Lestrade fails to apprehend a group
of high-profile thieves, the Waters gang. Each time, we see the relevant
newspaper front pages, which superficially catalogue the unbroken run of
35 Sherlock, “The Reichenbach Fall.”