I saw an interview this morning (YouTube here) with two of the creators of the new (wonderful) BBC Sherlock Holmes, Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue. Happily, they confirm there are more to come, but Mr Moffat said one thing that troubled my geeky soul.
When talking about updating the stories, and putting them into a modern context, he uses the example of the classic Sherlock line ‘The game’s afoot!’, saying it would seem odd for a modern young man to say. Quite natural for a Victorian, he says, but odd for a young man of today.
Except: Sherlock was always quoting Shakespeare. One of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches, actually; the ‘Once more unto the breach’ speech from Henry V. A bit more of the speech below:
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’
Here, ‘game’ takes on a very different meaning. It is the ‘game‘ of a hunter, like gamefowl. Literally, Shakespeare is saying that the hunted creature they are pursuing is on its feet, and that his men must chase it like greyhounds. Not that it was all a game, which ‘The game is on’ seems to mean.
I still think the modern Sherlock would quote Shakespeare: he seems well read enough. His Victorian original was always quoting Goethe in the original german, to my enormous frustration (and awe) as a young person.
So, it seems a (tiny) shame when a link between great writers is broken. Books talk among themselves: it seems rude to interrupt them.
