Leiden University Student Repository

Geerlofs, Michelle (2015)

It’s Good to be Bad in 221B Baker Street: Blurring the Lines between the Villains and the Hero in BBC’s Sherlock

Bachelor thesis | Engelse taal en cultuur (BA)

In 2010 the BBC launched a new series called Sherlock, a contemporary adaption of the Holmes stories. In this recent adaption created by Stephen Moffat and Mark Gattis, the original characters are presented with a modern twist. Gattis and Moffat are known for their work on the BBC series Dr Who, a programme with a central character himself notably indebted to Holmes. The villains in the BBC series Sherlock challenge Sherlock to commit wicked deeds, and therefore perhaps to become a villain himself. This thesis will argue that in this way the show sets out to destabilize and call into question notions of an essential distinction between heroism and villainy.

literature

detective

fiction

BBC

Sherlock

villainy

heroism

television

Author

Geerlofs, Michelle

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Literature

Supervisors

Newton, Michael

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en