Doc Martin & Sherlock around the world
If you’re in the UK or in the States, you know of the brilliance that is Sherlock and Doc Martin. While Sherlock (BBC) and Doc Martin (ITV1) have been extraordinarily successful franchises in the UK, it’s no different in America with each series finding both critical acclaim while attracting a large and loyal following on PBS stations around the country.
Interestingly, the worldwide success for both series has been achieved in completely different ways with the original Sherlock series being acquired and dubbed into the native language while Doc Martin has found success in countries like Spain where the television network, Antena 3, bought the scripts, recast the series and shot virtually every scene identically from the ITV1 original.
Doc Martin = Doctor Mateo in Spain
Fans of Doc Martin will recognize this scene from the first episode of the series when Doc encounters Louisa on the train on his way to a job interview. Besides Spain, there are also German, Russian and French versions of the curmudgeonly doctor.
Sherlock in Italian, Russian, Spanish, French
Taking a bit of a different route to worldwide success, the Sherlock franchise has been acquired in its original form in over 180 countries around the globe and dubbed to the native language. Taking a scene from the original “A Study in Pink” where Sherlock first meets John Watson, seeing these few examples that were expertly put together by The Telegraph, my initial thought was you’d think that since the world’s greatest detective was so brilliant and Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed him perfectly, there would be no need to dub as not only are we dealing with the ‘universal language of crime fighting’ after all, but surely Sherlock Holmes knows all the languages of the world anyway so why the need to dub? But then I came back to the real world and remembered that ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ airs tonight on PBS’ Masterpiece series so, all is well. Cheers.
