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‘Sherlock Live’: Interactive Event Lets Fans Become The Detective On Twitter

By Kendi Banks
Published on: 09:50 PST, Jan 11, 2017

Sherlock Live, an interactive event that allowed fans to put their deductive reasoning skills to the test, took place on Twitter last night. Show creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss took on Sherlock Holmes’ (played by onscreen by Benedict Cumberbatch) persona and took over the BBC Twitter account.

Sherlock Live revolved around solving the murder of a man named Daniel Collard. Over the course of the game, details concerning Daniel’s life — some of his final tweets, an alleged affair with a waitress, and other things — were posted to help fans piece together the events that led up to his murder. The game lasted for a half hour and ran parallel to the most recent episode of Sherlock, which aired on January 8.

Over half an hour, Sherlock posted clues, coated in his signature snark, about a case written by Joe Lidster specifically for the social media event. Fans participated by posting their theories to Twitter using the hashtag #SherlockLive. In return, Sherlock would provide feedback, often in the form of insults.

Prior to the start of the game, Sherlock appeared to have infiltrated BBC’s account in order to build interest in the event.

Sherlock is unique in the sense that its seasons only consist of a few episodes and subsequent seasons don’t return annually, like most other shows. Season 4 just premiered on January 1, just a hair under three years after the Season 3 finale. Its production schedule is an obvious pain for dedicated viewers who keep up with the show.

Sherlock Live, in a way, was an added treat for its loyal fans.

For those of you wondering where the idea came come, it’s apparently been in the works for awhile.

“It’s an idea we’ve had for some time – I’ve just been waiting for the right opportunity to try it out,” Jo Pearce, the creative digital director at BBC Wales, told the Telegraph. “What could be better than bringing together sheer genius and testing Sherlock against the rest of the world? Sherlock Holmes’ unique style of deduction offers a fascinating format to play with, and social media means anything is possible.”

It’s unclear if fans will get to participate in the way Sherlock Live has allowed when future episodes get released. What is clear, however, is the fact that future episodes are unlikely to feature its star, Benedict Cumberbatch.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, actor/writer/producer Mark Gatiss, writer/producer Steven Moffat, and producer Sue Vertue attend the ‘Sherlock’ panel during Comic-Con International 2016 [Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

The beloved actor has been dropping hints that Season 4 of Sherlock may be his last time playing the famous detective. Since Sherlock premiered in 2010, Cumberbatch’s celebrity has risen to new heights, and he just doesn’t have as much time as he used to. Along with Martin Freeman’s (Dr. John Watson) other projects, it’s been difficult to coordinate schedules to film the crime drama, which takes years to produce.

“This new series goes to a place where it will be hard to follow on immediately,” he told the Telegraph. “We never say never on the show, but in the immediate future we all have things we want to crack on with, and we’ve made something very complete as it its. So I think we’ll just have to wait and see.”

If you didn’t follow along with Sherlock Live, but the concept has piqued your interest, then you can view the outcome of the case in the video below.

Spoiler Alert: It wasn’t murder. It was suicide.

[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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