Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is surely one of the most fascinating characters in modern fiction, having inspired countless imitations, societies of fans who pretend he is real (and some people who really believed he was a real-life person), and numerous literary pastiches and stage and screen adaptations. He is just real enough to fascinate, and just unreal enough to provide room for audiences to use their imaginations in understanding him. With so much Holmes-work having been done over the decades since his first appearance in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887, it’s very difficult for an adapter to find a usable new angle. Thus it’s impressive that the producers of the new BBC series Sherlock have managed to do exactly that, and with a exceedingly simple strategy. They’ve moved Holmes, Watson, and the stories’ other principle characters to modern London. The show,which ran in July and August of this year in Britain and will be on the PBS series Masterpiece Mystery starting tonight (check local listings for times.), superbly translates the atmosphere, ambiance, and concerns of the Doyle stories to the modern day. There are many, many differences from the original stories, of course, but the most important elements

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