First look – Sherlock “Scandal in Belgravia” on PBS

I know we’re still talking about something that’s a bit down the road, but May 6 will be here before you know it. Whatever side of the pond you find yourself on today, you, most assuredly, are either part of the UK Sherlock Separation Anxiety Society or the U.S. Sherlock Anticipation Society. Not to worry! We are there for you, no matter what the circumstance.

PBS’ Masterpiece series has just released the first trailer for the premiere of Sherlock “A Scandal in Belgravia”. All I can say is, set the DVR now for May 6 at 8:00pCT/9:00pET on your local PBS station. You can thank me on May 7. If you have trouble viewing below, click here.

Watch Sherlock Season 2: A Scene from Ep. 1 on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

Fancy a TARDIS Cat Playhouse for that special someone?

Another one of those “too good to pass up” finds that one feels obligated to share. A quick thanks goes out to Bruce Gunn and The Mary Sue for the original find and, ultimately, pointing us in the right direction to dig a bit deeper into this very special project.

As the story goes, back in 2005, Astromark, a frequent contributor of the TARDIS Builders forums, began constructing a miniature TARDIS for a very special member of the household, the family kitten, Kaylee. Pretty simple, when you think about it. Cats love boxes so, what’s not to love about the Doctor’s mode of travel. Inspired by an earlier, albeit smaller, project built as a Christmas gift for another family member, this one had to be quite special given the demanding nature of the recipient.

While Kaylee was kept in the dark (actually, just hidden in another room) during the construction phase of the project, after all was said and done, Kaylee was a bit tentative at first with respect to her new inter-galactic playhouse, but quickly became more that attached to her new home within minutes. Thankfully, contrary to public outcry and, definitely, for Kaylee’s, her name was not changed to Doctor Mew.

Funny, it really is larger on the inside than you think, isn’t it?

Creating Sherlock’s 221b Baker Street “home”

In previous weeks, we’ve noted the painstaking efforts that writers Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Steve Thompson went through to bring us television brilliance. Also, to no one’s surprise, the endless hours of prep the actors put in outside of just “learning their lines” to get it just right are well-documented. Benedict Cumberbatch not only learned to play the violin, but wanted to master every single nuance that one would expect from a true master of the violin such as how you hold the instrument, how you pick it up, put it down, etc.

That said, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals behind the scenes that lend their craft to the overall production that you never hear of, but you immediately notice their handiwork. Paul McGuigan work as director was perfection. Nothing short of a brilliant soundtrack by David Arnold and Michael Price goes largely unnoticed until you start thinking about it.

Sherlock viewers, unknowingly, are quite familiar with the work of production designer Arwel Wyn Jones. Work with a constant presence on screen, contributing to the overall success of the series. In a recent interview with Radio Times. Jones stressed a guiding principle from Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat that the series is to be “an adventure viewers get to go along with”. Therefore, he said: “…we wanted [221b Baker Street] basically to feel like [Sherlock and John’s] den, like a place you’d want to be and share with them and spend time in.”.

As you can imagine, creating a London flat that looks 30-40 years old from scratch is quite a chore. Not a stone unturned as not only did Sherlock’s chair come from a purchase on eBay, but Benedict suggested several of books that would, ultimately, line the great detective’s bookshelf. Jones even employed a dust machine that “…blows a little, gentle cloud of dust that settles down.”

After all is said and done, Arwel Wyn Jones’ thoughts on the newly created 221b Baker Street – “It’s kind of a cool place.” More insights with Sherlock production designer, Arwel Wyn Jones, can be found here in the Radio Times and some really cool set photos with background info here.

Is Sophia Myles the new companion for Doctor Who?

As we all know, one of the top trending hash tags on Twitter every so often seems to center around either who will be the Doctor’s new companion or the obvious most popular topic to trend being who the next Traveling Time Lord will be.

Remembering that current Doctor Who show runner, Steven Moffat, is the one that, quite possibly, secretly planted a TARDIS in the Baskerville moors, this may nothing more than the fanning of the internet flames but, a very cryptic tweet appeared recently suggesting that people should follow Sophia Myles’ Twitter feed, and that he would explain later. Myles, who played Madame de Pompadour in “The Girl in the Fireplace”, an episode from the David Tennant days on Doctor Who, put out a couple of cryptic tweets of her own, asking fans to propose episode ideas, and series spin-offs for her character, while playfully deflecting any direct questions with responses like “I’m not at liberty to say” and “Ask [Moffat].”

With current companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) set to depart the series after the upcoming seventh season, this has led to prolonged speculation and endless discussion – as it always does in the world that is the Doctor Who fan base — that Myles might become the next companion, or at least she might appear in the next series in some major fashion when it returns for a Fall 2012 transmission.

Given her short-lived but strong appearance as Beth Bailey in the ninth season of Spooks (MI5), lets hope that there’s more to these tweets that just a bit of winding people up. For my money, Myles would be great in any role in the series. Here, she talked about her, at the time, upcoming role in the world of Spooks.