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Sherlock Holmes fans - Did Scotland Yard hate A.C. Doyle?

patchbunny

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patchbunny
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I've been a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and the multitude of Holmes stories by other authors, for some time now. Today, I began to wonder. As Doyle wrote again and again about the bumbling antics of Scotland Yard and the average policeman, was there any animosity towards Doyle by the police? I would imagine that police of the era were the butt of some jokes because of his stories, I've never seen anything written discussing the issue. Anyone have any idea?

--Patch
 
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From the English mysteries I've read from the late 19 and early 20th century, the prevailing portrayal of police was that they were bumbling and only the independant investigator could solve the case. Meanwhile, in the US the police were portrayed as corrupt.
 
Although I have no idea how to answer your question, I can say that as a little girl I was madly, passionately in love with Sherlock Holmes. So much so, that I read every book and story, and dreamed about him at night. Then, in my teens, I feel in love with Mr. Rochester, only to be shortly replaced by Mr. Darcy. In college, it was Prince Andrei from War and Peace. And now, my heart belongs (well, metaphorically) to Robert Plant. At least, unlike the others, Plant is not a fictional creation.

But to get back on point a bit, I think Doyle had to make Scotland yard look bad in order to present Sherlock Holmes as a master genius. It was entertaining fiction, and I believe people took it as such. I'm sure there are historical works out there describing the operations of Scotland yard during the time period in question for those who are truly curious. (A trip to the library or even a knowledgeable forum member might provide the answer.) But somehow, I doubt Scotland Yard was any worse than U.S. Police today (without considering the tremendous improvements in GPS tracking, forensics, and etc.).

The bottom line, however, is that without a master detective, there is no detective story.
 
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Going strictly by memory here, and therefore risking complete embarrassment, I think the police-as-bumblers portrayal was not in the original stories, just as Watson-as-overweight-thickhead was not.

Both were added in film first and stories by other authors later.

Doyle's Watson was thin and quite intelligent himself. His police inspectors were capable, too, simply not as capable as Holmes.
 
One way to put it would be that Watson was "smart" for recognizing Holmes' genius. The police inspectors were "bumblers" for always doubting it.
 
Garrette said:
Doyle's Watson was thin and quite intelligent himself. His police inspectors were capable, too, simply not as capable as Holmes.
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I seem to recall that Watson is in fact described as emaciated after coming
home from campaigning in Afghanistan.
 
bluharmony said:
One way to put it would be that Watson was "smart" for recognizing Holmes' genius. The police inspectors were "bumblers" for always doubting it.
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Maybe, but that is missing the point.

Watson, as written by Doyle, was not fat, slow, or dumb. He was an intelligent doctor easily the mental equal of nearly every character in the series. He was just not in Holmes' league, just as no one else was.

Inspector Lestrade, iirc, was not written to be quite as intelligent as Watson, but was certainly not a narrow-minded buffoon.

It was the cinema that made Watson and Lestrade diminished characters, not Doyle, and they did it, I suspect, because it made marketing sense. Doyle knew better. He knew that the true genius of Holmes would best be shown by having it outshine intelligent folk, not dullards. Anyone can outshine dullards.
 
TX50 said:
I seem to recall that Watson is in fact described as emaciated after coming
home from campaigning in Afghanistan.
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Yes. And he was recuperating from a wound that seemed to migrate to different spots of his anatomy as the series went on.
 
I seem to recall that Holmes had differing degrees of respect for the different detectives. Like it would say something like, "Holmes whispered to Watson, 'Inspector A is one of the sharpest in the yard'" or "Inspector B is not the sharpest detective, but he makes up for it in hard work" that type of thing
 
Garrette said:
It was the cinema that made Watson and Lestrade diminished characters, not Doyle, and they did it, I suspect, because it made marketing sense. Doyle knew better. He knew that the true genius of Holmes would best be shown by having it outshine intelligent folk, not dullards. Anyone can outshine dullards.
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Point taken, and I quite agree.
 
While many of the Holmes movies liked to show the police, and even Watson, as bumbling fools, in the books, they do not come across that way.

Instead, what I always found to be the real strength of Holmes was that he could instantly determine the accuracy of any given situation. It may take him a while to collect the various facts and get the ideas which enabled him to put together the whole picture, but he could always tell when someone was lying to him, or being honest with him, or hiding something from him, and so on.

None of the other characters ever seemed to exhibit this very powerful talent.
 
patchbunny said:
As Doyle wrote again and again about the bumbling antics of Scotland Yard and the average policeman, was there any animosity towards Doyle by the police? I would imagine that police of the era were the butt of some jokes because of his stories,
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It would probably have been perceived as offensive and stereotyping.
But luckily policemen are all too stupid to read books.

I'm joking, I like policemen - they do things I'd be scared to
 
Drewbot said:
I seem to recall that Holmes had differing degrees of respect for the different detectives. Like it would say something like, "Holmes whispered to Watson, 'Inspector A is one of the sharpest in the yard'" or "Inspector B is not the sharpest detective, but he makes up for it in hard work" that type of thing
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In Study In Scarlet (I think), he called Gregson and Lestrade "the best of a bad lot," and both inspectors seem rather hostile towards Holmes in return. It's worth noting, though, that that's in the first novel; Holmes and Lestrade (Gregson get phased) seem to be on much better terms in later stories (see for example "The Six Napoleons"), and Holmes is downright complementary of another detective, Stanley Hopkins.
 
Garrette said:
It was the cinema that made Watson and Lestrade diminished characters, not Doyle, and they did it, I suspect, because it made marketing sense. Doyle knew better. He knew that the true genius of Holmes would best be shown by having it outshine intelligent folk, not dullards. Anyone can outshine dullards.
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I recall Nigel Bruce, who played Dr. Watson alongside Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, saying in an interview that he played Watson as a bit of a dullard to emphasize Holmes' genius. The problem with that, though, is you wonder how anyone as thick as Watson could ever function as a doctor. That style, unfortunately, seems to have carried on with several other performers.

I'm much more in favor of the Clive Merrison/Michael Williams radio adaptations, as Williams doesn't play as dense a character. In fact, I thought their adaptation of "The Lion's Mane" was brilliant for showing that Watson was hardly an idiot. In that version, Watson visits a retired Holmes, who has already solved the mystery, and manages to work out the solution on his own.

--Patch
 
The Jeremy Britt/Thames Television Sherlock Holmes is the best film version ever.End of discussion.
 
bluharmony said:
And now, my heart belongs (well, metaphorically) to Robert Plant. At least, unlike the others, Plant is not a fictional creation.
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How do you know? Have you seen him in person? They can do amazing things with digital animation these days.
 
You were right there with me sipping wine, my dear. Besides, why use digital animation to make someone who once looked so good, look so bad?

Anyway, we're way off-topic here. You should be chastising me for my crush on Sherlock Holmes instead.
 
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