The game’s afoot … and abroad. The special Victorian-era Christmas episode of BBC’s Sherlock will be exhibited in those new-fangled picture houses which are proving most popular among metropolitans seeking entertainment outside the parlor. The Yuletide adventures of consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusty companion, Dr. John Watson, will be seen by means of Mr Edison’s marvelous device, the Kinetoscope, in theaters around the world as part of a ‘global cinema event,’ according to the Radio Times. Not all the countries taking part in this diverting phenomenon have been named, but it is understood that China will be among them. The dramatic telling of Mr. Conan Doyle’s stories is immensely popular in the Orient, with almost a hundred million people gathering before their difference engines to watch it.
The seasonal episode of Sherlock is a one-off, 90-minute show set in London in 1895. As well as estimable players Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, series regulars Rupert Graves, Una Stubbs, Louise Brealey and Amanda Abbington will also star. But will Moriarty (portrayed by Hibernian thespian Andrew Scott) make an appearance? Holmes’s nemesis was famously killed off, but setting the show at the time of the reign of Queen Victoria could allow for the character to return.
