Super interesting theory! Where are all the mind palace moments in S4? Were there any?? Was it all? I love this stuff so much
this meta is actually rly cool and is organized so well its like ur actually following a story !!!! reminds me of the theory of morality: mary v. moriarty !!!!
Thank you so much, @selinaphile. That is a lovely compliment and I’m thrilled you took the time to check it out.
The number 57 notoriously recurs in Moffat’s work and this timeline aims to report its mentions.
To note:
The time indicates the airdate.
This timeline is limited to explicit mentions in the dialogue, as this are the only ones that are almost certain to have been intentionally placed by Moffat, and other explicit mentions by Moffat himself.
This timelines excludes mentions of 57 in episodes showrunned by Moffat when they have not also been written by him.
This timeline excludes mentions of numbers similar to 57 (like for example 507), even if they might have been intentionally chosen due to their similarity to it.
2007:
21 july Jekyll: Episode Five
MR. HYDE: 57 years old, ex-smoker, gave up two years ago?
2010:
3 april Doctor Who:
The Eleventh Hour
DOCTOR: Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation.
2012:
1 january Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia
JOHN: 57? SHERLOCK: Sorry, what? JOHN: 57 of those texts, the ones I’ve heard.
Uknown date before 15 january 2012 (since he deleted his Twitter account) Twitter
millieisshort: @Markgatiss @steven_moffat on a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you to see the fandom suffering already? Steven Moffat: @millieisshort @Markgatiss 57
2013:
23 november Doctor Who:
The Day Of The Doctor: Cinema Intro
THE DOCTOR (11): I just watched the 100th anniversary special, all 57 doctors.
2014:
25 december Doctor Who: Last Christmas
THE DOCTOR: Clara. Give me any two digit CLARA : 57. THE DOCTOR: All right, all of you, turn to page 57and look at the very first word.
2015:
28 november Doctor Who: Heaven Sent
THE DOCTOR: 57 minutes.
2017:
27 may Doctor Who:
The Pyramid at the End of the World
BRABBIT: 11:57 PM. BILL: Yeah, mine too. SECRETARY-GENERAL: It’s everyone’s. 11.57 PM. NARDOLE: Did you get that, sir? Everyone’s phone’s gone to 11:57. DOCTOR: Yep, same here. BILL: What’s, what does that mean, 11:57?
This list may not be complete because I haven’t watched everything Moffat, but just to show you that the number 57 predates BBC Sherlock, so if anything it is probably tied to Moffat as a person.
The DW shakespeare reference is not one of this examples, not even considering Moffat’s showrunned episodes not written by him.
There is no consensus in the DW fandom on 57 being about bisexuality and some believe it is about the mention of ‘time’ in the sonnet. The belief that it was tied to bisexuality was held only by johnlockers and without a certain reason, as the first 126 sonnets are all addressed to a man and to this day, even if I asked more than once, nobody came to me with a source about 57 being more relevant than all the other 126 sonnets to bisexuality.
I made a spreadsheet of every Canon story with every Granada adaptation episode for quick reference. The Canon stories are organized via publication date according to Wikipedia, not in-universe chronology. (both are color coded by collection/season)
The first Sherlock Holmes story ever written. Half of the book is about a completely different person, and Holmes’s characterization here is slightly different, but it’s a good start for anyone unfamiliar with the canon.
Sherlock Holmes at his edgiest. Best known as “the one where Watson gets married and Holmes does cocaine”. Contains moderate amounts of racism towards the end of the book.
The easiest novel to get into without any prior knowledge imo. It seems to be one of the few stories in the canon that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put actual effort into. Sherlock Holmes himself doesn’t have a lot of screentime, though.
A redux of A Study in Scarlet for the most part, albeit a good one. Has a few Moriarty cameos in it, but if you read it exclusively for him you’re probably going to be disappointed.
Short Stories
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes*
Probably the most iconic set of stories in the canon. This is a great place to start if you’ve never read a Sherlock Holmes story before.
Another great place to start; these stories tend to focus more on Sherlock Holmes’s backstory (or what little we get of it) than the others. It’s also home to the story where Sherlock Holmes “dies”.
He’s back, and this time we get a number of really good Sherlock Holmes stories. I’d probably read some of the stories from previous books first, but I’d certainly recommend most of these.
These ones tend to be a bit off-genre at points, containing three short stories not even narrated by Watson, as well as a few parts that are Just Plain Weird, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like them anyways.
A short story written
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that features an unnamed “amateur reasoner of some celebrity”. It is published in French anthologies of Sherlock Holmes stories.
A joint effort between ACD and William Gillette, it stands as one of the most influential pieces of Sherlock Holmes media outside of the canon itself. It is the origin of the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson”, as well as many other curiosities.
The play that would inevitably become canon through “The Mazarin Stone”. It is also where the “Moriarty steals the crown jewels” plotline originated.
Note: there were two other Sherlock Holmes-related plays penned by ACD (Angels of Darkness and The Stonor Case), but I was unable to find a pdf of them. 😦 Please let me know if you find a copy.
Sherlock Fandom Archive 