Benedict Cumberbatch, Transition Completed

by Lynnette Porter

  In July 2014 the British TV Choice Awards, voted by the public, nominated Cumberbatch as Best Actor and Sherlock as Best Drama Series. A few days later, the U.S. Emmy nominations were announced; Sherlock earned twelve, including writing, directing, casting, cinematography, costuming, music composition, single-camera picture editing, sound editing, sound mixing, and television movie - all attesting to Sherlock’s continuing status as a high-quality program and, as U.S. newspapers mentioned, the acceptance and, indeed, celebration of British television imports. Cumberbatch and Freeman faced off in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie category, Cumberbatch for Sherlock but Freeman for Fargo. Freeman received a second nomination, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Sherlock.

  2014 proved to be Sherlock’s big year at the Emmy awards. Among the statuettes honouring Sherlock was Cumberbatch’s first Emmy, but Freeman must have been consoled from losing to his Sherlock colleague by winning his Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actor. Unfortunately for the fans who hoped to see them at the awards ceremony, both busy actors were working and could not accept the awards in person.

  The Critics’ Choice list was especially praised for truly including worthy performances across networks and suggesting that the nominations were based on the quality of work, not previous popularity of a television series or the network on which a series was broadcast. President of the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA), the organisation that bestows the Critics’ Choice Awards, noted the high quality of the year’s television offerings: “As television journalists, BTJA members live and breathe TV, and we’re excited to share our top picks from an immensely rich and diverse year of programming”.[142] For Sherlock to receive so many Critics’ Choice or Emmy nominations - and Emmy awards - in the U.S., where it is an import, is an effective indicator that the critics considered “His Last Vow” as an exemplary “movie” and the performances among the best in the 2013-14 television season. Especially in the aftermath of viewer controversy about the directions the stories took, Sherlock benefitted from accolades from those who, as their job title explains, are meant to evaluate work objectively. Most notably for PBS, Sherlock earned four of the network’s five Critics’ Choice nominations (the other going to The Hollow Crown in the Best Miniseries category) and twelve of twenty-four Emmy nominations (the rest going to Downton Abbey). Sherlock’s Emmy awards for best actor, best supporting actor, and outstanding writing in particular validated the quality of series three but also set an even higher bar of excellence to meet or surpass in series four.

  Despite the critics’ acclaim, the first responses posted by readers of the Hollywood Reporter’s announcement of Critics’ Choice nominations complained that series three was the worst.[143] On Twitter, however, fans congratulated the cast or Cumberbatch specifically, after nominations and especially following the Emmy wins.

  Hours after the U.S. media published the nominations, with headlines only focused on U.S. series, the U.K.’s Radio Times emphasised only the British actors nominated for awards. The Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries category was especially star studded with Brits, but the headline indicates just how much Cumberbatch and Freeman are esteemed at home: “Sherlock Stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman Vie for Best Actor Award”. The photo beneath this headline showed a close-up from “A Scandal in Belgravia” when John chokes Sherlock during a fight the detective instigates for a case. The article’s first four paragraphs are devoted to news about the Sherlock cast’s nominations.[144] Although Sherlock, Cumberbatch, and Freeman may get the majority of media focus at home, they are not yet as widely revered by the U.S. media - but television critics and fans certainly have taken notice and appreciate their work, as the many award nominations and Emmy wins for Cumberbatch and Freeman illustrate.

  At home in the U.K., the Sherlock star already had received awards for his most recent work as Holmes. Cumberbatch won the new category of TV Detective at the National Television Awards in January 2014. The public votes for these awards, and Cumberbatch’s popularity in the role gained him the award over David Tennant and Olivia Colman (Broadchurch), Idris Elba (Luther), Bradley Walsh (Law & Order UK), and Suranne Jones (Scott & Bailey).

  Cumberbatch’s acceptance speech from LA again combined the best of his two professional personas: glamorous, classy actor and fun-loving “average guy”. At first shown live on camera in a tuxedo while standing in front of a backdrop of the Hollywood sign, Cumberbatch seriously thanked the public, saying “You are the people who have made [Sherlock] the success of what it is, and it’s a real, real, real thrill. I wish I was there to pick up the award in person”. He stuttered through the minute-long speech and admitted he was nervous, but, once again, the sincerity behind his feeling “over the moon” at receiving the award made his vocal stumbles understandable and adorable to his fans.

  The jitters also should have telegraphed a prank in the making. “I’ve been working out in Hollywood here,” the actor explained, as the camera was lowered to show him wearing red board shorts. Fans in the London auditorium watching the video screamed their approval at the sight. Feigning annoyance with the camera, Cumberbatch got his tuxedo-jacketed torso back in frame. Like an average guy faced with the opportunity to go swimming in Southern California in January, he rationalised, “The pool is too lovely. I’ve been swimming in it every day”. As if to remind his followers that he has not gone Hollywood, his parting words to the Londoners at the awards ceremony were that he would see them soon.[145]

  Cumberbatch’s projects in any medium generate immediate interest. As soon as series three had been broadcast in the U.K., speculation about the next series of Sherlock included hype (and hope) that shooting for series four might begin as early as spring 2014, especially after the start date of Cumberbatch’s film, Blood Mountain, fell through, and his schedule briefly seemed to open up more options for Sherlock filming. Co-star Abbington mentioned in a Radio Times article[146] that partner Freeman truly was a free man post-Fargo filming. However, the window of opportunity slammed shut when both leads quickly found non-television projects: Richard III, on stage at Trafalgar Studios, for Freeman and a range of celebrity appearances for Cumberbatch.

  Whereas Sherlock co-creators and showrunners Gatiss and Moffat proclaimed that series four and five already had been plotted,[147] Freeman announced weeks later that Sherlock might return as a one-off special.[148] By the end of May, however, consensus seemed to be that series four might be broadcast in 2016 - after the series’ typical two-year hiatus - but, as Moffat also mentioned several times, Sherlock employs two of the busiest actors on the planet, which always creates scheduling dilemmas. On the BAFTA red carpet in spring 2014, Gatiss assured fans that they had made “significant progress” toward determining shooting dates. He then joked that the efforts involved in coming to an agreement made the process of scheduling Sherlock and announcing the dates seem more like political negotiations than television entertainment.[149]

  By summer 2014, the Sherlock schedule included a one-off special, to be filmed in early 2015 for a late-year broadcast, and three more episodes. Series four, planned for broadcast in 2016, would be filmed later, but the special would be a bonus for fans and would help dispel disgruntlement with another long hiatus.

  The continuing interest in and even controversy surrounding Sherlock do everything to help Cumberbatch’s career. Public demand ensures that he is encouraged to return to the role between other projects and to be associated with an award-winning television series for several years during its original run and for decades more via recordings and rebroadcasts. Furthermore, Sherlock has the cachet of being not just a run-of-the-mill television series but a high-class production more like a series of movies than a typical television drama; its sales figures for BBC Worldwide illustrate its preeminence among British television exports and its global demand.

  Although Sherlock is not the reason for Cumberbatch’s career success - he already
was well known in the U.K. entertainment industry and busy fielding calls for film roles by the time Sherlock debuted - nonetheless Sherlock has become a stable focal point around which the actor’s other projects revolve. It offers him a beloved character to portray and the continuing adulation of television fans, a prominent position among the BBC’s “go-to” actors for special projects, and the assurance of a high-profile starring role guaranteed to provide both acting challenges and publicity during a sizeable chunk of the actor’s professional career. Even fan unease with characterisation or dissatisfaction with plot lines in series three did not diminish international interest in the continuation of Sherlock.

  If series four of Sherlock would not return Cumberbatch to television in the U.K. - and exported to more than 200 territories[150] - until possibly 2016, then other television dramas would fill in to keep Cumberbatch a constant presence on U.K. television. Like Freeman, Cumberbatch took on the lead in Richard III, but the latter signed on for a movie within the second series of television’s The Hollow Crown. In addition to the Shakespearean drama, which undoubtedly would draw comparisons between the actors’ interpretations and productions, Cumberbatch’s many celebrity roles on television - as interviewee, presenter, or himself in a guest role - kept him on the small screen while fans waited yet again for Sherlock’s return.

  Interpreting Sherlock During Series Three

  Changes in the direction of Sherlock Holmes’ development startled some fans during series three. These character developments, although well acted by Cumberbatch, also shift audience and critics’ perceptions of Sherlock and the type of character - less canon Holmes and more BBC, ever-evolving modern Sherlock - with which the actor is most often associated. Three “roles” or aspects of Sherlock’s personality, whether delineated in a script or enhanced through fandom, are analysed in the remainder of this chapter:

  Sherlock as a dragonslayer, “god,” or saviour

  Sherlock as his “younger” self, aka William Sherlock Scott Holmes

  Sherlock as a sex object (which, in turn, reflects the public’s/media’s ongoing debate about Cumberbatch’s sex appeal)

  Sherlock as Dragonslayer, god, or Saviour

  Although the last episode of series three features the “dragonslayer” dialogue, Sherlock has taken on that job at least since the series two finale, “The Reichenbach Fall”.[151] However, this knight errant (or erring, as it seems near the conclusion of “His Last Vow”) is most obviously pitted against a “dragon” in series three.

  Even viewers who have no idea that Cumberbatch is the mo-cap originator of movie Smaug’s moves or more obviously as the dragon’s voice come to understand that Sherlock has become far more of a saviour or dragonslayer figure as the series progresses. Before falling from St. Bart’s roof, he proclaims to Moriarty that he is on the side of the angels but is not one of them.[152] That prophetic statement is illustrated nowhere better than by series three episodes. He is a saviour figure believing himself to work for the greater good, but he is not angelic.

  Despite all the theories about how Sherlock survives the fall or the hints about what he does during his time “dead” (e.g., being captured, escaping, and returning to be tortured in Serbia), the acts Sherlock commits - and the actions perpetrated upon him - are largely left to the viewer’s imagination. With the exception of the opening scenes in “The Empty Hearse,” which briefly show Sherlock’s recapture and horrific treatment - chained, beaten, sleep deprived - in Serbia, his life prior to his return to London seems shadowy and mysterious. He apparently helps clear up “bad guys” in Europe by infiltrating and manipulating organisations. Mycroft, who uncharacteristically does some “legwork” to retrieve Sherlock from Serbia, seems to be working with his brother. Because the audience typically sees little that John Watson does not see, many of Sherlock’s actions develop a mythic quality as they are mentioned in passing or alluded to, but they are not directly observed by John or the audience.

  What is clear, however, is that Sherlock has become a saviour figure - what I term a “dark hero”. He is even more morally ambiguous, for all that he strives to do “good” by John Watson. Sherlock’s actions are based on upholding the vow he makes to John’s family during the Watson wedding. To protect John’s life and future happiness, Sherlock believes he must slay a “dragon,” series three’s “big bad” - Charles Augustus Magnussen.

  By the conclusion of his encounter with this villain, Sherlock commits a murder, not what everyone would consider an “angelic” act. Although he may have the good intention to save his closest friends from being blackmailed, humiliated, and injured (and, in the process, saving unknown others from a similar fate), he shoots a man in cold blood. Thus, he fulfils Sally Donovan’s prophesy in the very first episode that “one day we’ll all be standing around a body, and Sherlock Holmes will be the one who put it there”.[153] Even Mycroft, who has been privy to at least some of his brother’s post-fall activities, mournfully asks, “Oh, Sherlock, what have you done?” Sherlock sacrifices himself to ensure John’s and new wife Mary’s safety. By the end of the episode, he flies off (or, godlike, ascends to the heavens) in exile from all he has known and loved and accepts his impending death. However, Sherlock is hardly a martyr because of the act that sets in motion his exile.

  The show’s moral premise - as with most television series aside from a show like Breaking Bad - is that the protagonist is assumed to be a hero or to be headed toward the idealised “goodness” of a hero. Sherlock berates John’s attempt early on to put him in that category, saying “Heroes don’t exist, John, and if they did, I wouldn’t be one of them”.[154] Nonetheless, Sherlock’s ability to spar with Moriarty and to sacrifice his life to save three people close to him (John, Mrs. Hudson, Detective Inspector Lestrade), just as he does in “His Last Vow” (this time to save John, Mary, and their unborn daughter), makes him seem heroic despite his protest and to fulfil Lestrade’s hope for him one day to become a “good man,” not simply a great one (i.e., genius).[155] Because Sherlock’s brilliant deductions have thwarted international plots and put away criminals, viewers have come to expect that he will act heroically. His self-sacrifice reinforces this interpretation.

  Sherlock also “plays god” with others’ lives by choosing when to save or kill. During series two’s “A Scandal in Belgravia,” Irene Adler is saved from execution.[156] In series three, Janine, who is introduced as Mary’s friend and later shown to be Magnussen’s assistant, and Mary are saved from the dragon Magnussen, who toys with them and knows he can destroy them at any time. John is saved from Magnussen’s blackmail and tortuous ability to keep him in line in order to preserve his family, but he pays the price with the apparent loss of his dearest friend.

  In previous episodes, Sherlock has been shown to manipulate events so that “bad people” like Mrs. Hudson’s husband,[157] a Russian killer,[158] and Moriarty[159] die. What is different about the murder Sherlock commits is that it is graphically, emphatically done in front of John, Mycroft, and a host of military witnesses - plus the audience. Previous allusions to characters that Sherlock did not save, such as the reference to his ensuring the execution of Mrs. Hudson’s husband, have been played for laughs. The tone changes in series three to match the initially described deadly serious consequences of Sherlock’s act, which changes the audience’s perception of the series’ “hero”.

  Sherlock never shies away from killing or death. In the first episode, John shoots a cabbie in response to an immediate lethal threat.[160] In this episode, John saves Sherlock in the nick of time from taking a likely poison pill or being shot. (John does not know that the cabbie’s gun is not real.) When the Russian killer and Mrs. Hudson’s husband are executed, they die as a result of being convicted of their crimes, even if Sherlock ensures the evidence leads to conviction and death. In “His Last Vow,” Sherlock decides that the dragon must be slain and his “lair” (i.e., mind palace) des
troyed.

  Sherlock’s action follows a current trend in the adaptations of other iconic characters, as Entertainment Weekly noted, like Superman in Man of Steel. “The Sherlock Holmes played by Benedict Cumberbatch is the most brilliant problem solver on television,” but in “His Last Vow,” Sherlock faces the moral dilemma of “how to neutralise Magnussen’s threat and honour his [vow] without murdering him”. Sherlock, however, ultimately decides the only logical response is to wipe out that threat. Like Superman in Man of Steel, who kills his nemesis because there seems no other way to stop his annihilation of humanity, Sherlock seems to find no other way to neutralise the threat of Magnussen. He cannot solve the problem with his brain; he resorts to using a gun.

  Sherlock does not even bring his own weapon; he takes moral compass John’s and thus establishes a new, deadlier “superhero” interpretation of the character. By taking John’s weapon, and, in the process, John’s former responsibility of being the moral centre of the story, Sherlock is no longer merely a consulting detective based in London. He becomes the arbiter of justice who takes vengeance on evildoers.

  Entertainment Weekly compared Sherlock to Superman and Batman (with Moriarty as the Joker) but used James Bond terminology to ask whether Sherlock should have a “licence to kill”. Many viewers (including the Entertainment Weekly writer and myself) were left wondering why genius Sherlock could not “have risen to the challenge of the moment... He had the smarts to brainstorm more inspired solutions to the problem of Magnussen, and the seasoning to resist a degrading one”.[161] This denouement for series three potentially leads Sherlock into a much darker direction in future episodes and shifts the characterisation to more of a James Bond-type spy working for the British government and a national saviour who is the only one capable of fighting criminals who increasingly take on the guise of pure evil.