How Sherlock Changed the World – A first look
As we march towards the series 3 premiere of Sherlock, we all are keenly aware how the world’s most famous consulting detective has changed OUR personal mind palaces. But now, thanks to PBS, we can definitely see how Sherlock Holmes changed the world’s mind palace in How Sherlock Changed the World. On Tuesday, December 17 at 8:00p CT / 9:00p ET on PBS, forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee, who has also been called ‘The Sherlock Holmes of Taiwan’, reveals how Sherlock Holmes’ method of deductive reasoning affects the way crime scenes are investigated and criminals are questioned.
Narrated by The Walking Dead’s, Andrew Lincoln, the 2-hour program is quick to identify Holmes as “the first CSI” because of his meticulous examination of crime scenes and deductive reasoning. Unfortunately, he just happened to be about 120 years ahead of his time. Two of the coolest things about the program begin with one, actual video of Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who died in 1930, and two, some interesting insights regarding Joseph Bell, the doctor who provided Doyle with real-life inspiration for the character.
To support the ‘first CSI’ claim, it’s pointed out that Doyle wrote “A Study in Scarlet”, the first Sherlock Holmes story in 1887, which happens to be a year before the Jack the Ripper murders rocked the Whitechapel area of London. Holmes’ painstaking approach to clues was light years ahead of the way London police would handle the Ripper murders where crime scenes were never ‘off limits’.
The only unfortunate part of program was the abundantly clear lack of footage from the BBC/PBS Sherlock series opting instead for re-enactment (which I personally am not a fan of in general) to prove its point. That said, all in all, to see present day forensic scientists get so excited when talking about Holmes’ influence on present day techniques is way cool.
How Sherlock Changed the World premieres tomorrow at 8:00p CT / 9:00p ET on PBS stations nationwide.
In: Mystery
