Many Happy Returns

Next time you cast actors as Serbs please... no pretty please cast someone who actually speaks serbian. As a serbian I am used to acts being casted as bad guys (not all Serbs as Russians or Arabs are bad people) but, if you want to portray as bad an evil people cast (I will repeat ) someone who does speaks Serbian.

Just in case viewers weren't already wishing their Christmas break away in order to get to the New Year's Day return of Sherlock to the BBC, this little mini prequel came out a week before that return with a short that alludes to him being alive. In a pub Anderson tries to convince Lestrade that a handful of complex crimes across the world can only have been solved by Holmes, regardless of who publicly took the credit. Meanwhile, John Watson gets to watch a longer version of the DVD Holmes did for him on his birthday, bringing back some painful memories. But, he's definitely dead right? Smile, wink.

Like everyone else I am very much looking forward to the return of Sherlock and the continued mystery over how Steven Moffat can write such tight and engaging stories for this show but be all over the shop with Doctor Who, sorry, I mean of course the mystery over how he survived a fatal fall while making it look like he died at the end of the second season. This little short doesn't do anything that whet the appetite for the return but it is amusing and fun in its own way. Wisely Sherlock himself only appears in two ways – one is as a suggested outline in the visualization of Anderson's theories and the other is in a pre-recorded DVD, albeit one that is paused at a key moment. This is a wise choice as nobody wants to play the card early, but it does also help add to the appeal.

It is a throwaway short of course – just a 7-minute promo but it is fun. Freeman and Graves carry it along and the cheeky direction and use of the instantly recognizable music makes it one big tease – albeit a tease that is self-inflicted by the viewer and one that can be enjoyed now that the wait is down to days.

....is this not included as an extra on my DVDs?????

Sherlock Holmes is not a cold-blooded killer or high-functioning sociopath Steve Moffat and his team are terrible writers who should invent their own detective and characters because they are clearly incapable of getting anywhere near who Sherlock Holmes character actually is. I doubt they ever bothered to find out, like most of their audience.

This portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is closer to a James Bond type of character, not Sherlock. Cumberbatch does his best with terrible writing, but inevitably the real Sherlock would never kill people in cold blood nor act as judge and jury in the stopping of an individual criminal.

Holmes 'powers' are not power of deductive reasoning, but instead portrayed like 'super-powers' similar to a marvel character. HIs explanations are not reasoning or elimination of possibliities but big shows of self-aggrandisement.

Basically this is not Sherlock, but a terrible rendition by a half-hearted writer who wouldn't know a good mystery from his left hand.

Until when will Serbs be an association for murderers, terrorists? And please, if you are already taking Serbs, at least try to speak the correct Serbian language and with a good accent, specifically in this episode it sounds more like Croatian