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"The Abominable Bride" is a special episode of the British television programme Sherlock. The episode was broadcast on BBC One, PBS and Channel One on 1 January 2016. It depicts the characters of the show in an alternative timeline: the Victorian London setting of the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. The title is based on the quote "Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife" from "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" (1893), which refers to a case mentioned by Holmes.[1] The story also draws on elements of original Conan Doyle stories of Holmes such as "The Five Orange Pips" (1891) and "The Final Problem" (1893).
The plot revolves around Victorian England and the present day. In the 19thcentury, Dr. John Watson has been medically discharged from the Army and moves to London. Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes by a fellow student of Bart's, and becomes interested in his investigative principles. Holmes invites Watson to share his new flat in Baker Street, which Watson accepts.
In 1895, Inspector Lestrade arrives and presents Holmes and Watson with a puzzling case: Emelia Ricoletti, a consumptive bride, had fired on by-passers in the street from a balcony before fatally shooting herself. Later that evening, Mr.Ricoletti was confronted by Emelia, who shot him dead before disappearing into the fog. Fascinated by Emelia's apparent survival, Holmes takes the case. At the morgue, Dr.Hooper informs Holmes that the woman who killed herself, the woman who murdered Mr.Ricoletti and the body on hand have all been positively identified as Emelia Ricoletti. When the bride apparently returns to murder other men, he deduces that these are copycat crimes.
Months later, Holmes' brother Mycroft refers a case to him: Lady Carmichael's husband, SirEustace Carmichael, received a threatening warning in the form of an envelope full of orange pips (seeds). SirEustace is uncooperative, describing his wife as "hysterical"; Holmes and Watson stake out the house for the evening. A ghostly-looking bride appears and disappears in front of them, and the pair hear the sound of breaking glass, followed by screams from both SirEustace and LadyCarmichael. They discover Sir Eustace, stabbed to death, by what appears to be Emelia, who then escapes through a broken window. Lestrade arrives and observes a note attached to the dagger, which Holmes says was not there when he found the body. The note reads, "Miss me?", a phrase used by the modern-day James Moriarty. After insisting that the case's solution is so simple that even Lestrade could solve it, Holmes meditates. Moriarty appears and insults Holmes about the mystery of Emelia's apparent post-suicide revival, alluding to his similar apparent death in the present. Moriarty appears to shoot himself in the head but remains alive.
In the present day, it is revealed that the events of Victorian England are actually occurring within Sherlock's drug-laden Mind Palace. The plane has returned to England minutes after taking off after Moriarty's broadcast, and Mycroft, John, and Mary enter the plane to find a frustrated Sherlock rambling about the unsolved Ricoletti case. Sherlock explains he had hoped to solve the case, believing it would prove crucial to solving Moriarty's return.
Victorian Holmes awakens, with an awareness of events of the present as a seeming hallucination induced by cocaine. He receives a telegram from Mrs Watson saying she has found Emelia's co-conspirators at a desanctified church. There, Holmes and Watson discover and interrupt a secret group of the Women's Rights Movement, whose members include Dr.Hooper, Janine Hawkins, and Watson's maidservant. Holmes explains that they used a double to fake Emelia's death, allowing her to kill her husband and create the persona of the avenging ghost bride. Already dying, she was later killed at her request by being shot through the mouth; the duplicate corpse was replaced by her actual corpse, the one Holmes and Watson saw at the morgue, for a positive identification. Since then, the women have used the persona of the bride to murder men who wronged them. Sherlock surmises that Lady Carmichael, being a member of the society, killed her husband. He makes his accusation to the approaching bride, assuming that it is Lady Carmichael. When he lifts the bride's veil, however, he finds that the "bride" is actually Moriarty.
Sherlock reawakens in the present, where he insists on finding Emelia's grave to prove that her body-double was buried under the coffin. While digging, he hears Emelia's corpse repeatedly whisper "Do not forget me". The corpse moves to attack him, leading Holmes to realize he is not actually awake. He then "awakens" in the past on a ledge next to the Reichenbach Falls. Moriarty appears and tells Holmes he is still trapped in his Mind Palace – Holmes realises that the incident at the grave was just another episode in the same dream. The men fight and Moriarty gains the upper hand, but Watson appears and holds Moriarty at gunpoint. Watson kicks Moriarty off the ledge and then asks Holmes how he can awaken into the present. Holmes decides to fall over the ledge, having confidence he will survive.
Sherlock wakes up in the present on the plane. Mycroft asks John to look after Sherlock, hoping he will not use drugs again. After John leaves the plane, Mycroft opens Sherlock's notebook, revealing the word "Redbeard". Sherlock concludes that, like Ricoletti, Moriarty did indeed die but arranged with others to carry out plans after his death. The episode ends with Victorian Holmes describing his visions of aeroplanes and mobile telephones to a cynical Watson, before looking out the window onto Baker Street in the present day.
Filming
Panoramic view of the entrance area of Tyntesfield
The final scene of the episode puts forth a possible concept that all of the series in its modern-day setting are actually playing out from within Victorian Holmes' Mind Palace. Mark Gatiss stated in Sherlock: The Abominable Bride Post-Mortem:[3]
By having that scene right at the end, where we go back to Victorian London – Victorian Baker Street – and Sherlock explicitly says, "It's an imagined version of what I think the future might be," we have really opened a ridiculous window that the entire series of Sherlock might be the drug-induced ravings of the Victorian Sherlock Holmes. Which means we can do absolutely anything.
Moriarty's stating "There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before" comes from one of Arthur Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes stories, A Study in Scarlet.[4] But also refers to the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes (Ch1 Vs9): "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."
In the UK, "The Abominable Bride" pulled in strong ratings overnight, scoring more than 8.4million viewers on New Year's Day for BBC One.[6] The final, official consolidated rating after seven days was 11.6m viewers[7] making it the most watched programme of the week in the UK.
The episode was broadcast from 9 p.m. on BBC One, PBS and OTE Cinema 4 HD[8] and in the United Kingdom it was simulcast in 100 cinemas nationwide.[9]
In a special extended version featuring twenty minutes of additional footage, including a guided set-tour of 221B Baker Street with executive producer Moffat and a short making-of with Cumberbatch and Freeman, "The Abominable Bride" was granted a limited release in theatres in Hong Kong, Denmark and Australia on 2 January 2016,[10] in Finland on 3 January 2016, a full release in China on 4 January[11] and a limited release across the United Kingdom and the United States on 5–6 January 2016[12] and in Italy on 12–13 January 2016. It was released in Japan on 19 February 2016.[13] it was also shown in cinemas in Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
In cinemas, the film (along with the bonus footage) held strong, particularly in China and South Korea bringing in $5.39million (£3.68m) on its opening day alone (January 4) in China, according to Deadline, as 1.7million people in the country saw the one-off episode. It grossed $5million in the latter country, South Korea.[6] It grossed a total of CN¥161.315 million in China,[14] its largest territory by box office gross.[15] On these successful ratings, BBC Worldwide's Sally de St Croix said, "Following on from a strong performance on BBC One, the show has now seen multi-million dollar success at the South Korean and Chinese box offices – an outstanding achievement for a British TV show."[6] It grossed US$578,109 on its opening weekend in Japan.[16] The special cinema showing has grossed an international total of $38,400,603.[17]
Related Research Articles
A Study in Scarlet is an 1887 detective novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in literature. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, a consulting detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
Mycroft Holmes is a fictional character appearing in stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from 1893 to 1908. The elder brother of detective Sherlock Holmes, he is a government official and a founding member of the Diogenes Club. Mycroft is described as having abilities of deduction and knowledge exceeding even those of his brother, though their practical use is limited by his dislike of fieldwork.
"The Final Problem" is a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom, and McClure's in the United States, under the title "The Adventure of the Final Problem" in December 1893. It appears in book form as part of the collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
The Diogenes Club is a fictional gentlemen's club created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and featured in several Sherlock Holmes stories, such as 1893's "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter". It seems to have been named after Diogenes the Cynic and was co-founded by Sherlock's indolent elder brother Mycroft Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century is an animated television series in which Sherlock Holmes is brought back to life in the 22nd century. The series is a co-production by DIC Entertainment, L.P. and Scottish Television Enterprises and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Special Class Animated Program.
Detective Inspector G. Lestrade, or Mr. Lestrade, is a fictional character appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Lestrade's first appearance was in the first Sherlock Holmes story, the novel A Study in Scarlet, which was published in 1887. The last story in which he appears is the short story "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs", which was first published in 1924 and was included in the final collection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.
The stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have been very popular as adaptations for the stage, and later film, and still later television. The four volumes of the Universal Sherlock Holmes (1995) compiled by Ronald B. De Waal lists over 25,000 Holmes-related productions and products. They include the original writings, "together with the translations of these tales into sixty-three languages, plus Braille and shorthand, the writings about the Writings or higher criticism, writings about Sherlockians and their societies, memorials and memorabilia, games, puzzles and quizzes, phonograph records, audio and video tapes, compact discs, laser discs, ballets, films, musicals, operettas, oratorios, plays, radio and television programs, parodies and pastiches, children's books, cartoons, comics, and a multitude of other items — from advertisements to wine — that have accumulated throughout the world on the two most famous characters in literature."
Sherlock Holmes has long been a popular character for pastiche, Holmes-related work by authors and creators other than Arthur Conan Doyle. Their works can be grouped into four broad categories:
Many writers make references to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous literary creation, the detective Sherlock Holmes, and these often become embedded within popular culture. While Holmes exists predominantly in the context of Victorian-era London, he has been mentioned in such outre contexts as the 22nd century or hunting aliens or supernatural enemies. These references are in addition to the innumerable passing references to Sherlock Holmes made in many literary and cinematic works, such as the labeling of a person as a "Sherlock", whether in reference to their intelligence.
The Spider Woman is a 1943 mystery film starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, the seventh of fourteen such films the pair were involved in. As with all of the Universal Studios films in the series, the film is set in then-present day as opposed to the Victorian setting of the original stories. This film incorporates elements from the 1890 novel The Sign of the Four, as well as the short stories "The Final Problem", "The Adventure of the Empty House", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and makes explicit reference to "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot".
Sherlock is a British mystery crime drama television series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, it stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson. Thirteen episodes have been produced, with four three-part series airing from 2010 to 2017 and a special episode that aired on 1 January 2016. The series is set in the present day in which it aired, while the one-off special features a Victorian period fantasy resembling the original Holmes stories. Sherlock is produced by the British network BBC, along with Hartswood Films, with Moffat, Gatiss, Sue Vertue and Rebecca Eaton serving as executive producers. The series is supported by the American station WGBH-TV Boston for its Masterpiece anthology series on PBS, where it also airs in the United States. The series is primarily filmed in Cardiff, Wales, with North Gower Street in London used for exterior shots of Holmes and Watson's 221B Baker Street residence.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is a 1980 Soviet film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories about Sherlock Holmes. It is the second film in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson film series directed by Igor Maslennikov.
"A Study in Pink" is the first episode of the television series Sherlock and first broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 25 July 2010. It introduces the main characters and resolves a murder mystery. It is loosely based upon the first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet.
"A Scandal in Belgravia" is the first episode of the second series of the BBC crime drama series Sherlock, which follows the modern-day adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and was first broadcast by BBC One on 1 January 2012. It was written by co-creator Steven Moffat, and directed by Paul McGuigan. The episode was based on "A Scandal in Bohemia", a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
"The Reichenbach Fall" is the third and final episode of the second series of the BBC television series Sherlock. It was written by Stephen Thompson and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson, and Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty. The episode deals with Moriarty's attempt to undermine the public's view of Sherlock and drive him to suicide. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD on 15 January 2012. It attracted 9.78 million viewers, and critical reaction to the episode was positive. After the episode was aired, there was also much online and media speculation, which focused on Sherlock's death.
"The Empty Hearse" is the first episode of the third series of the BBC television series Sherlock. It was written by Mark Gatiss and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson, and Mark Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes. It also marks the first appearance of Amanda Abbington as Mary Morstan and Lars Mikkelsen as Charles Augustus Magnussen.
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