AX: What, to you, is the essence of Sherlock Holmes that makes him that character, instead of a great detective you could just invent from scratch?
MOFFAT: I think he is absolutely distinct, but I think you can’t take him in isolation. If you take him in isolation, he’s kind of Mr. Spock, Baker Street, or something. You have to actually take him as what he really is, a jewel. It’s a partnership. These two characters, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, are not only of equal stature in the original [book] series, Watson is arguably the main character. He’s the one who’s telling the story. It’s all happening to him. It is that friendship – you take this cold, remarkable, difficult, dangerous, borderline psychopath man, and you wonder what might have happened to him had he not met his best friend, a friend that no one would have put him with, this solid, dependable, brave, big-hearted war hero. I think people fall in love, not with Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson, but with their friendship. I think it is the most famous friendship in fiction, without a doubt. It is a moving and affecting one, and best of all, it’s a great portrait as in the original stories of a male friendship, by which I mean it is never discussed at all. They never mention it. They never have one moment of articulated affection. Neither have we [Moffat and Gatiss]. Why would we? We don’t do it. We’re men. We have no emotions [laughs]. So the story of Sherlock Holmes, on the surface, is about detection, but in reality, it’s about the best of two men who save each other – a lost, washed-up war hero and a man who could end up committing murders instead of solving them. They come together. They become this perfect unit. They become the best friendship ever, and they become heroes. That’s what we fall in love with, not Sherlock on his own. No one can love that man on his own, but Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson – the best friends ever.
