Analysis of a Crime Drama

Here is an analysis I made in order to discuss the representation which is shown in episode 3 from the 1st series of the BBC crime drama Sherlock. I thought it would be interesting to post this as I made it as part of my exam course and thought it may possibly help in my research as representation is a key element that would be included in the final project. Unfortunately I cannot find a direct link to the full episode, however I have provided a few screen shots to help you understand what I am trying to describe in the vital scenes. This is also very interesting because one of my many ideas for the final project could potentially be based on the first scene from this episode, however I still have not fully decided the basis for our final project.

Crime Drama Analysis (Sherlock)

The programme Sherlock is a crime drama that acts as a 21^st century interpretation of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. From the programme there are many different representations shown through various different ways.

Within this particular episode the first shot that is shown is that of a rundown prison within Belarus. This already highlights the representation that Eastern European countries are very deprived and therefore very rough and unhygienic. As the camera pans across the prison the audience can see Sherlock talking to a prisoner about his situation, shot/reverse shots are made during the conversation to reflect on the dialogue. Sherlock is wearing very dark but equally sophisticated and erudite clothing; this is done to highlight Sherlock’s character as he is a very intelligent person but can also be dark and malicious at times but remains heroic and good in order to find injustice. From the dialogue it is clear that Sherlock has a very posh and deep accent whilst the prisoner has a typical cockney accent clearly showing that the working class are undermined by the upper class. The use of the prisoner having a working class accent also represents that the working class are the criminals in society whilst the upper class are the detectives. Throughout the conversation Sherlock consistently corrects the prisoner’s sentences showing how the upper class are clearly more intelligent than the working class. Eventually the prisoner becomes so agitated about Sherlock he starts violently hitting his hand on the table clearly showing again how the working class are very violent, earlier in the conversation it is made clear that the prisoner is in prison because he murdered his girlfriend showing mans empowerment of women but also reinforces how the working class people are clearly more horrifically violent. From the lighting it is also notable that Sherlock is always shown with a brightly lit face whilst the prisoners face can be seen but is notably much darker than Sherlock’s showing how the working class are far more evil and sadistic whereas the upper class are much more calm and heroic. Sherlock finds out through the dialogue that the prisoner admits he stabbed his girlfriend repeatedly and thus leaves him in the prisoner where he is expected to be “hanged” as punishment, Sherlock clearly has a very prudish and cocky look on his face as he leaves, this clearly shows how the upper class has ‘won the argument’ over the working class.

There is then a jump-cut back to London where the audience can see Sherlock and his partner Watson's flat. Sherlock is relatively young whereas Watson could be seen easily as middle-aged. The difference between their ages becomes notable in this scene where Watson starts complaining about how Sherlock has left the flat in a “mess” which highlights how younger people are more reckless around the house whilst older, more middle aged people are more concerned about the conditions of the household. Watson starts walking across the flat and is clearly clueless about  all the experiments that can be seen going on around the flat showing how older people prefer to be in a much more stable and clean environment while the young people do not necessarily care about their environment.

In this episode the crimes which are committed revolve around someone who has placed bombs on innocent people in unidentified environments with the objective being that the man wants to see if Sherlock can discover where the innocent people are before the bomb ignites. The only method of communication Sherlock can have with the innocent people is through a mobile phone however the innocent people can only say what the perpetrator tells them to. The 4 people taken hostage throughout the episode include a young man (possibly a student), a middle aged woman, a very old lady and a child. These are all done to highlight the vulnerability in each character as all of these people’s characteristics show them to be vulnerable in some way. The young man is surrounded in a very busy city but no one notices the bomb in his jacket or him crying highlighting how young people are always ignored in society and no one questions them. The middle aged woman is in a car however the only shots that the audience see of her are close-ups and extreme close-ups highlighting how middle aged women are secluded and are very alone with no one around to save them. The old lady is said to be blind and is clearly shown to be the only person in her house highlighting how old woman are very alone and scared without any understanding of their surroundings. The old woman is also the only person out of the 4 to die which shows the likelihood that older people are more likely to die than young people. Nothing is shown of the child however the use of the child being taken as hostage highlights how children are vulnerable to anything. It’s also possible that the child is a girl as the child has a very child-like but feminine voice which could correspond with the rest of the hostages of which only one is a man. This could show the vulnerability of women and the empowerment of men, this theory is reinforced by the detectives as the vast majority of head detectives are men whereas there is only woman who is a detective and she is shown to be very arrogant and self-centred thus representing that men have clear dominion over women.

The man who is shown to be the ‘mastermind’ of the hostages being taken has a thick Irish accent and is roughly the same age as Sherlock which is done to show them as equals in an opposite spectrum. This could also have been done to represent England with Sherlock as heroic whilst Ireland is more evil and sadistic. 

Here is an image taken from the very first scene from the run-down prison, I discussed the setting and situation in the analysis.

Here is the lighting shown in the episode of the prisoner (during the first scene), I discussed this in the analysis.

Here is the reverse shot on Sherlock, again taken from the first scene, you can clearly see the difference in the lighting, showing Sherlock as clearly heroic whilst the prisoner is very dark and malicious.

Here is an example of one of the hostages taken during the episode, as you can see there is clear claustrophobia in this shot, this is also the only shot you see the woman in highlighting and emphasizing the claustrophobia further.