Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: benedict cumberbatch, Culverton Smith, entertainment, sherlock, television, toby jones

Meet Culverton Smith, Sherlock Holmes Darkest Enemy

Going into this fourth series of Sherlock, we knew that Toby Jones was going to be playing a big bad for this season in the same way that Lars Mikkelsen played Charles Augustus Magnusson in the third series. But we didn't know which character he would be playing… until recently. The second episode is where Jones will be making his debut as Culverton Smith in an episode called The Lying Detective.  Holmes describes Smith in the trailer as 'the most dangerous, most despicable human being' that he's ever encountered. This seems similar to the way he spoke of Magnusson.

Now, I'm going to talk about the source material… so there might be some spoilers… but how spoilery could it be since the original story was published 103 years ago.

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Culverton Smith was part of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story called The Adventure of the Dying Detective. The basis for the story is that Holmes is dynig. Mrs. Hudson called Dr. Watson in to help after Sherlock eats nothing for three days and starts looking horrid. He refuses to let Watson examine him, saying that what he has is contagious. Holmes asks Watson to lower the lights and then fetch a man named Culverton Smith, but Watson is to return before Smith arrives. We learn that Smith's nephew died in a similar fashion and that he had sent Holmes a package with a sharp spring with the same disease on it. Smith retrieved the evidence and was going to sit and watch Holmes die. Holmes asks for the lights to be turned up, which signal the police to enter and arrest Smith. Then Watson steps out form hiding to be the witness that Smith confessed his crimes. Holmes found the spring prior to being infected by it and just pretended to be dying.

Now, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have yet to follow a story exactly. Like with the Six Thatchers, they use the original as a starting point and then go into the bigger picture. Since Smith is going to be the big bad, I doubt the crime will be so mundane. But bringing Watson back because Sherlock is dying could get them past the rift that was created at the end of the first episode. Moffat has called Smith the darkest villain they've had… which is saying a lot after Magnusson and Moriarty (Andrew Scott). So what makes the character more vile than the others? I guess we'll see on Sunday.

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