Hesitating over its practicality, Moffat was urged Lady Macbeth-like bySherlockco-creator Mark Gatiss to Take the throne!.
This isGame Of Thronesnow isnt it?
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Mark Gatiss:Ive never seenGame Of Thrones.
MG:Ive only just discoveredThe Waltons.
It takes me a long time.
And yet you watch Americas Next Top Model?
[laughter]
MG:Yes!
Obviously, I have my priorities right.
What can you say beyond No comment aboutSherlocks third series?
MG:Thats it.
We cant say anything [laughter] Episode two is calledThe Sign of Three.
Thats all we can say.
Are you able to say how many episodes Amandas in?
SM:Thats certainly something you should look forward to finding out [laughter].
Will we be set any more homework at the end of this series?
SM:What homework were you set last time?
How did Sherlock survive the fall?
SM:Thats voluntary!
MG:And its good.
Thats not homework is it.
It was meant affectionately!
SM:Homeworks much more terrifying.
You have to do sums and physics and chemistry and things.
But will there be a mystery?
Something for us to ponder?
SM:Well, we wouldnt give that away in advance would we?
Youll have to wait and see.
Were not going to do everything the same.
We cant spend ninety minutes explaining how he did it.
Also its yesterdays breakfast.
SM:I think its actually very, very faithful to the books.
MG:[deliberately getting Moffats name wrong] I agree with Simon [laughter].
MG:And its almost the last story.
SM:Its almost the last story.
MG:And because of our casting, its clicked.
SM:People are always compelled, arent we, by friendships between people youd never put together.
They dont even look similar.
So its about the friendship.
Were missing Moriarty, presumably.
SM:Hes dead.
He blew his head off.
SM:Yes, we will present you with villainy.
MG:[laughter] This is like it would be to be politicians.
He was his nemesis for a reason.
SM:There is a sort of arc, and its always a sort of arc.
Always really, its about… Its just about that relationship.
Theyll never be massive though, because we cant treat them like films.
You should be able to watch them independently of anything else.
Theyre bachelors who solve crimes.
MG:Thats a very good point though.
I think it is a show about a detective, not a detective show.
MG:Doyle set the challenge.
How do you make your selection when you have however many stories to choose from?
Do you each have a list on the fridge that youre crossing off?
SM:We have a list in our brains, we dont need to look at a fridge.
MG:We look at our mind fridge!
[laughter]
SM:Our mind fridge!
MG:We have a lot of favourite stories, its just what works, you know.
I thinkthatsa great villain,thatsa great moment,thatsa great scene, and sticking them together.
Like the Rathbone/Bruce films did, they were very eclectic.
Is that something you could envisage writing for him?
MG:Oh I love that!
TheI Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside.
Its a very rare chance because Rathbone really is unrecognisable.
Weve never really thought about it.
Does that make it easier for him to become someone else when he wants to be?
MG:That was our mission statement, wasnt it?
You mention spookiness, Mark.
Can we expect a horror theme to your episode once again?
SM:As it must be.
MG:Yes, thats as it must be.
You had to put off filming, I believe, because of availability.
Do you see that becoming increasingly difficult to get Benedict and Martin on set?
It will be worth it.
Can I ask you aboutElementary, have you seen that?
SM:I havent seen it.
Youve deliberately avoided it?
SM:Well, it would be a daft thing for us to watch.
SM:Just why?
I dont have to answer that question.
MG:We never get asked about it.
SM: Yours is the first question about it.
Why do you think it works so well for these characters?
Did they just naturally fit into a modern setting?
The first two films he made were the first ones deliberately set in period.
SM:Because it was a real world and because it was contemporary.
SM:Which will always be definitive.
And when you ask them, do you find it different?
The feverish fandom really has always been with it then?
SM:Oh yeah.
I wonder if thats what Benedict gets… [laughter] Can I be your housekeeper?
He was a very, very handsome man.
Doyle always said he was portrayed much more aquiline and good-looking than he ever intended him to be.
SM:Something the lady readers might have appreciated…
MG:A different world.
How do you keep your secrets, its so difficult.
SM:We dont talk about them [laughter].
MG:It still works!
OnMad Men, Matthew Weiner has these huge confidentiality clauses, he locks the sets and stuff like that.
MG:A lot of its good will isnt it?
SM:Good will.
It only matters if the big audience knows.
MG:I miss those days.
Because I think things are massively over-reported.
SM:And absolutely everybody carries a camera.
A casual comment becomes a huge bust-up or a headline or something like that.
When it still happens, its fantastic.
SM:When you’re able to pull off a surprise, its fantastic.
Would Amanda Abbingtons casting have been out there for instance?
Do you take that into account when youre writing?
SM:You cant.
In the end, youd be cramping your narrative to keep a secret.
You just have to go for it and hope.
You cant make a worse show, but a more secret one.
Assuming were looking at a Christmas air date, theres nothing that references Christmas in the first episode?
MG:There was last year and it was great.
We leaked some photographs of Baker Street at Christmas and everyone then assumed it wasThe Blue Carbuncle.
It may be hard for you to answer, but why do you think its caught fire this series?
MG:Its great!
[laughter]
But if you could be a bit objective about it?
SM:If you get Sherlock Holmes right, it will succeed.
Its the biggest hit in fiction and thats not an exaggeration.
Im not even sure what the second biggest hit is.
MG:[In a Transylvanian accent] Dracula.
SM:Draculas way behind Sherlock Holmes, way behind.
MG:Hes the most filmed character.
If you could box it, wed do it for everything.
SM:Ive never sat through anything like this, or been involved in anything.
Are you ever nostalgic for those days?
SM:Before it was famous?
Before anyone gave a stuff about it.
SM:Im not.
I cant even remember them.
It was seriously so short a time.
They brought forward the broadcast dates.
So theres nothing to be nostalgic for.
MG:And then it instantly wasnt as good as the previous one.
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, thank you very much!
Come back tomorrow for our Sherlock series 3 interview with Martin Freeman.
