Sherlock: The Great Game

Based loosely on The Five Orange Pips and The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, this story concentrates on Sherlock's relationship with Moriarty. Moriarty teases Sherlock with several mysteries, all preceded with a voicemail message with 5, then 4, then 3, etc "pips", or small beeps. In "The Five Orange Pips", there is an envelope sent with 5 orange pips inside. The envelope comes from the KKK, and predicts doom. In the Doyle story, a former lover is trying to win back the wife of Sherlock's client. Except for the five pips, there are no further similarities.

The other storyline that runs in parallel in the 3rd episode of the BBC's Sherlock series is much more similar to the Doyle story. In both, someone is trying to steal the plans, and someone close to the plans is killed and put on top of a subway car. In the BBC story, the pips are actually a ruse to distract Sherlock from this parallel mystery. In both the body is found on the train tracks, with no ticket, and he has rushed away from his fiancee with no explanation. In both, Sherlock's brother Mycroft brings him the case. In both, the young man is thought to be a thief, but is proved innocent by Holmes.

Sherlock: The Blind Banker

It took me a bit, but after some googling I found that this episode was based on a story called "The Dancing Men." In the short story, Sherlock helps a distraught husband figure out that the dancing men he finds are a code. The code turns out to be a threat to his wife, who used to be involved with a Chicago gangster before marrying him. Sherlock is unfortunately too late, as the husband is killed in a shoot-off with the gangster. He is able to capture the gangster, though, and the wife recovers from her self-inflicted wound.

In the "Sherlock" adaptation, there is very little that is similar. The main idea, a code to be cracked, is there. But the figures do not represent letters, but numbers. They are Chinese numbers, and they refer to words in a book. There is a sympathetic female character, who is haunted by her past, so that is slightly similar. The victims of the multiple-murder episode are all part of a smuggling ring, so that is similar to the Chicago mob. The main smuggler, who turns out to be a woman, is murdered at the end of the episode by an unknown assailant who is Skype-ing with her at the time. Perhaps this storyline will return.

Sherlock: A Study in Pink

The BBC has created a "series" which consists of mini-movies, basically (90 mins long) Sherlock is set in modern-day London. (he is obssessed with texting)

The first show was loosely based on "A Study in Scarlet", the first Sherlock Holmes story, which was a short novel. The adaptation completely changed the back-story of the crime, but kept some of the essential elements: two pills, one that is harmless, and one that will kill. Also, the (last) victim wrote "RACHE" (although in the novel it is the criminal who wrote this) Holmes thinks it's an attempt at Rachel, which is in the novel. But in the novel it turns out it really is "RACHE" (German for revenge) Here, it is Rachel, and it is the password to her phone. The adaptation is much darker, as the victims are completely innocent. In Study in Scarlet, we feel the victims were anything but innocent. Much of the TV show is spent developing the characters of Holmes and Watson. One of the police force tells Watson that Holmes is a psychopath. I'm not sure Doyle ever intended to paint him in such a terrible light, but he certainly is quirky.

Doyle never implied that Watson's war injury is only in his head. But the TV show has him completely drop his cane when he really does need to run, and he never even realizes it is gone.