148
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
Finally, the “Setlock” phenomenon, where Sherlock fans exchange
information and travel to where filming of the new series is taking place,
further tests the borders of acceptable fan behavior as far as the Sherlock
production team is concerned. 57 Jenkins, Ford, and Green end their book
Spreadable Media on a discussion of Twilight fans commenting on the new
film’s production design while it was still being filmed, seemingly regarding
this as a new frontier in the standoff between fans and producers. 58 The
stakes are perhaps higher still with Sherlock, where there is such a small
window for filming due to the constraints of the actors’ availability, and
where the streets of London – and particularly the Baker Street stand-in,
Speedy’s Café on North Gower Street – have traditionally played such a
key role in the series. Mark Gatiss recently remarked that the presence
of fans on filming locations would change the way the program is made.
Although his remarks have a “more in sorrow than in anger” ring to them, 59
it could be argued that Gatiss and Moffat stoked expectations by killing off
Sherlock in series two, and then, for the following series, filming multiple
explanations – such as the “Sherlock and Moriarty kiss” that made it into one
counterfactual sequence in “The Empty Hearse” – to keep the fans guessing
(and the press speculating) about his “resurrection.” The lead writers could
be accused of toying with the fans as long as “Setlock” operates on their own
terms, and then issuing warnings about its threat to future series as soon
as it becomes inconvenient.
Is it the case then, as Joanna Robinson surmises, that, for Moffat in particular, “there’s a certain kind of fan, the kind that fetishizes catchphrases
and iconography like […] the deerstalker, the scarves and bow ties, that
Moffat considers a bad fan,” deserving of ridicule and even destruction
within the shows themselves? 60 I would suggest that the pattern is more
complex than this. Sherlock’s relative scarcity of episodes – only thirteen
in seven years – and lengthy periods off-screen, along with the pace and
density of episode content, encourage a “drillable text” approach, where
there is time to unpack the “many layers of meaning” in a single episode. 61
Moreover, the plentiful rewards offered by Sherlock for the engaged viewer
represent a good example of a show encouraging “behaviours that were once
57 See Garside, “A Study in ‘Setlock’.”
58 Jenkins, Ford, and Green, Spreadable Media, 300–302.
59 Jones, “Sherlock fans.”
60 Robinson, “Do Sherlock and Doctor Who really have a ‘bad fan’ problem?” (emphasis in
original). Robinson is referring, in part, to the deaths of Osgood and Seb in the series eight finale
of Doctor Who.
61 Jenkins, Ford, and Green, Spreadable Media, 137.
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
Finally, the “Setlock” phenomenon, where Sherlock fans exchange
information and travel to where filming of the new series is taking place,
further tests the borders of acceptable fan behavior as far as the Sherlock
production team is concerned. 57 Jenkins, Ford, and Green end their book
Spreadable Media on a discussion of Twilight fans commenting on the new
film’s production design while it was still being filmed, seemingly regarding
this as a new frontier in the standoff between fans and producers. 58 The
stakes are perhaps higher still with Sherlock, where there is such a small
window for filming due to the constraints of the actors’ availability, and
where the streets of London – and particularly the Baker Street stand-in,
Speedy’s Café on North Gower Street – have traditionally played such a
key role in the series. Mark Gatiss recently remarked that the presence
of fans on filming locations would change the way the program is made.
Although his remarks have a “more in sorrow than in anger” ring to them, 59
it could be argued that Gatiss and Moffat stoked expectations by killing off
Sherlock in series two, and then, for the following series, filming multiple
explanations – such as the “Sherlock and Moriarty kiss” that made it into one
counterfactual sequence in “The Empty Hearse” – to keep the fans guessing
(and the press speculating) about his “resurrection.” The lead writers could
be accused of toying with the fans as long as “Setlock” operates on their own
terms, and then issuing warnings about its threat to future series as soon
as it becomes inconvenient.
Is it the case then, as Joanna Robinson surmises, that, for Moffat in particular, “there’s a certain kind of fan, the kind that fetishizes catchphrases
and iconography like […] the deerstalker, the scarves and bow ties, that
Moffat considers a bad fan,” deserving of ridicule and even destruction
within the shows themselves? 60 I would suggest that the pattern is more
complex than this. Sherlock’s relative scarcity of episodes – only thirteen
in seven years – and lengthy periods off-screen, along with the pace and
density of episode content, encourage a “drillable text” approach, where
there is time to unpack the “many layers of meaning” in a single episode. 61
Moreover, the plentiful rewards offered by Sherlock for the engaged viewer
represent a good example of a show encouraging “behaviours that were once
57 See Garside, “A Study in ‘Setlock’.”
58 Jenkins, Ford, and Green, Spreadable Media, 300–302.
59 Jones, “Sherlock fans.”
60 Robinson, “Do Sherlock and Doctor Who really have a ‘bad fan’ problem?” (emphasis in
original). Robinson is referring, in part, to the deaths of Osgood and Seb in the series eight finale
of Doctor Who.
61 Jenkins, Ford, and Green, Spreadable Media, 137.