Speaking at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival today, Sherlock creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat revealed three words which are related in some way to the forthcoming third series, which begins filming in January of next year: ‘rat’, ‘wedding’ and ‘bow’.
But what the bloody hell are they on about? CultBox has dusted off a copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Complete Sherlock Holmes to find out…
Rat
While it’s tempting to imagine a cameo for 1980s TV legend Roland, or even Rat Scabies from punk band The Damned, it’s more likely that the rodent in question is in some way connected to the Giant Rat of Sumatra. Despite only ever being mentioned in passing by Dr Watson in the original books, this mysterious creature is a much-speculated-upon part of Sherlockian folklore, and was the inspiration for the monster in the 1977 Doctor Who story, The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
However, the prospect of Sherlock and John being pursued through the London sewers by Rattus Enormousbastardus is probably a bit too fantastical for the show. It’s more likely that the ‘rat’ in question is a criminal informant – or perhaps it’s something to do with the misheard dying words of Charles McCarthy in Conan Doyle’s The Boscombe Valley Mystery.
While everyone believed he‘d made reference to a rat, McCarthy was actually trying to namedrop Ballarat, a town in his native Australia. Could the UK’s only consulting detective be exporting his talents for the overseas market?
Wedding
A number of the original adventures feature weddings of one kind or another, with few of them turning out as the bride and groom intended. There are aborted ceremonies of varying legality in The Solitary Cyclist and A Case of Identity, some unintentional bigamy in The Noble Bachelor, while Dr Grimesby Roylott tries to stop both his stepdaughters getting hitched in The Speckled Band by shoving a poisonous snake through their bedroom wall at night. Even the notorious Irene Adler ties the knot in A Scandal in Bohemia, with Holmes himself as a witness.
But the most famous wedding of all in the Sherlock Holmes canon is – like the oversized Sumatran vermin – something only referred to in passing, although its effects on the series as a whole are more far-reaching: Dr Watson marries Mary Morstan at the end of The Sign of Four and moves out of 221B Baker Street. So if Series 3 begins with John coming to terms with his best friend’s ‘death’ in the arms of a woman of that name (or a bloke called Stan Mormary), get ready to buy a new hat.
Bow
While neither is entirely unlikely, we’re discounting the possibility of a story set in the East London district or a plot centring on Sherlock’s violin in favour of something to do with – press the panic button NOW – Holmes’s final case.
Although more stories were published subsequently, His Last Bow was chronologically the concluding chapter of the Great Detective’s adventures, featuring him as a sixty-year-old spy in the run-up to World War I.
Is it conceivable that his modern counterpart could be enrolled into MI5 by brother Mycroft to defeat a more contemporary global evil – terrorists, perhaps, or Rupert Murdoch? And furthermore, could this episode see Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman bowing out for good?
We certainly hope not, because if the quality of Sherlock’s third series remains at the stratospheric level of the first two, the programme will once again be the best thing on television. But as Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci learned in Casino, no one stays at the top forever – and it’s better to go out with a bang rather than a whimper. If the summer of 2013 sees Sherlock hanging up his scarf for good, don’t say we didn’t at least try to soften the blow early.
What do you think the teasers mean? Let us know below…
> Order the BBC’s new official book, Sherlock: The Casebook, on Amazon.
> Buy the Series 1-2 boxset on Amazon.
Watch a clip from the Series 2 finale…