Creepy Culverton debuts
Sherlock’s creators discuss the new season with
Sherlock co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss says they are delighted to be ‘‘back to normal’’. After an extended break on other projects and last year’s Victorian-era ‘‘palette cleanser’’ The Abominable Bride, the pair have finally produced their first trio of new, modern-day adventures in three years.
Gathered together for a threeway chat from their respective homes in a frozen pre-Christmas Britain, Moffat and Gatiss both say it is a show that remains tremendously exciting to write for, even if its fans perhaps overanalyse every image released or utterance made by the duo.
‘‘There’s no delight left in our lives,’’ deadpans Gatiss, before Moffat, who has already warned of an impending tradesman visit, chimes in, ‘‘until the gas man arrives’’.
Japes aside, Moffat says each season starts with them having ‘‘lots and lots of conversations’’.
‘‘Initially, we have a lot of very excitable ones about which stories we are going to do and how we are going to do them, as well as what will be the twists and big moments. There are moments in this series coming up that we’ve been planning for years, so that’s very exciting.
‘‘We then each chose the story we fancied doing and we worked together on the third one. It’s a funny thing – it doesn’t feel desperately different when we write one properly together to when we write them notionally separately because we do so much planning together.’’
However, Gatiss admits they did take the opportunity to change things up a little this time around.
‘‘In February, before production started, I said to Steve’s wife Sue that I needed a bit of sunshine before we started and that I was going to go to Morocco. But because my partner was away, I suggested Steve come and we treat like some kind of writer’s retreat.
‘‘We got so much done, it was like a brilliant way of doing it. We’d talk about things at breakfast, then go away and write for hours and then come back together at lunch and talk about all three episodes. By the end of the week, we’d got so much done on our respective episodes and planning for episode three that, when we arrived back in Britain, Steve said ‘we’ve got to go back again’. So we went back a month later. We’ve now decided that’s the way we always have to do it – it’s a terrible precedent – having to find an expensive hotel somewhere nice.’’
Could that include New Zealand perhaps?
‘‘I was talking to someone last night who wants to move to New Zealand just to escape the apocalypse,’’ says Moffat, with more than a hint of relish and enthusiasm for our Shaky Isles as a destination.
Back to the current season and when asked if the title of the season opener The Six Thatchers was evoking ‘‘Britain’s worst nightmare’’, Moffat can’t resist another quip.
‘‘We’re living that now – don’t worry. I think we’re all feeling positively nostalgic for Margaret.
‘‘No, it’s inspired by the story The Six Napoleons.’’
However, it’s the Moffatwritten second episode, The Lying Detective, inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short-story The Adventure of the Dying Detective, that has generated the most interest. That’s thanks largely to the presence of actor Toby Jones as the dastardly Culverton Smith.
So why draw him out of the box of Conan Doyle villains?
‘‘He’s just a really good one,’’ enthuses Moffat. ‘‘We got through the famous ones – Moriarty, Irene Adler and the Hound, fairly quickly because we know there’s a bunch of other ones out there. Villains who are far less wellknown, but no less good. We’re definitely not delving into the second division, in fact there’s something more exciting about presenting a villain that no one’s ever heard of – as Mark always says, there are so many more stories and so much more to them than people are generally aware of.’’
Gatiss puts the appeal more simply. ‘‘He’s got such a fantastic character and MO [Modus Operandi] that it was sort of irresistible.’’
And was Jones always at the top of the list to play him? ‘‘There was a description of his kind of shark-like teeth and sort of dolllike quality,’’ says Gatiss, ‘‘so Toby was quickly thought of.
‘‘He is absolutely a physical threat for such a small man [Jones stands at 1.65m], which is an amazing achievement. You certainly will not forget Culverton Smith. I think he is one of the creepiest characters who has ever been on television.’’
Gatiss says his favourite part of the whole Sherlock process is interacting with the fans. ‘‘It is quite humbling to see what effect it has had on people’s lives. We’ve only made 13 episodes in six years, so that’s amazing.’’
Watching a completed episode for the first time with an audience is, he says, ‘‘like a rollercoaster ride – usually by then I’ve forgotten all the gags and twists’’.
Season 4 of Sherlock begins screening on Sunday, January 29, at 8.35pm on TVNZ1.