FANFIC: FRIEND OR FOE?
Sherlock Holmes has had so many incarnations over the years that it’s hard to keep track. In BBC’s Sherlock, he’s a ‘high-functioning sociopath’. In Elementary, he’s an ex-addict living in New York, with Watson reimagined as his sober female companion. Meanwhile, HBO Asia’s 2018 series Miss Sherlock is set in modern-day Japan, and stars Yuko Takeuchi as the consulting detective, with her female sidekick, Wato.
When it comes to fiction, the examples are endless. Some are young adult reinterpretations: in the book A Study in Charlotte you meet Holmes and Watson’s great-great-great grandchildren; in Lock & Mori, a teen Sherlock befriends a girl called Jamie Moriarty at boarding school.
Others have a feminist take. Laurie R King has a whole series of books centred on Mary Russell, Sherlock’s one-time apprentice, and in later books, his wife. And in the gender-flipped A Study in Scarlet Women, Charlotte Holmes solves crimes with the aid of Mrs John Watson.
Then there are the ones that venture a bit further into left field: Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula and Sherlock Bones, about a dog detective. There’s also a Sherlock Holmes- Phantom of the Opera crossover called The Angel of the Opera – because, why not?
