If you ask fans of the BBC drama Sherlock what the very heart of that series is, they will likely tell you that it is the relationship between Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman). Sure, there’s the clever mysteries and Sherlock, on his own, is a fascinating character, but it’s the “bromance” between Holmes and Watson that makes their adventures worthwhile.
Videos by ComicBook.com
At Comic-Con International: San Diego 2016, ComicBook.com’s Jim Viscardi caught up with showrunners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss and tried to find out how they make that relationship so consistently compelling.
“Like a lot of male friendships…it, of course, is never stated at all,” Moffat says. “That’s the thing about a male friendship, it is literally never talked about. They solve crimes, they have adventures together, they grouse at each other a bit. The friendship is just there. It is not in the words, it is in the fact that they are a unit, that they complete each other, a duo.”
“There’s a wonderful quote from the original stories where Watson persuades Sherlock out for some air, much against his will,” Gatiss, recalls. “They’re walking in the park and he says, ‘We walked in silence, for the most part, as befits two men who know each other intimately.’ I never forgot, I read that as a child and thought, ‘That seems like a wonderful expression of the truth of it.’
“Over the years we’re trying to evolve it,” Gatiss, who plays Sherlock’s brother Mycroft in the series, continues, “and to make sure that the characters actually have somewhere to go. Sherlock cannot be the same person that he was in episode one. Equally, Dr. Watson is a self-professed adrenaline junkie, and they have to find new places to go. This season, particularly, really tests them.”
Fans will see how Sherlock and Watson’s relationship stand up to these new tests when Sherlock Season 4 premieres in 2017.
