Hold on, I just need to quote this entire thing because it’s still unreal to me.
What Abbington doesn’t particularly like is the tendency of some rabid fans — as alluded to in the premiere episode — who insist on concocting a romantic relationship where none exists; as, for example, between Sherlock and John. It’s especially worrisome to her when they make pictures of it and put them on the Internet.
"It’s one where you have to be very careful what you say to them," she says. "You have to be very careful of how you broach that. You can’t be too critical … you have to pretend that it’s not out there. But it’s on the Internet for everybody to see. It’s a phenomenon; it really is.
"I’ve seen some particularly explicit paintings of Martin and Ben. Let’s not say it’s John and Sherlock; it’s Martin and Ben, because you don’t see Basil Rathbone and his Watson. I don’t think it’s about the characters; it becomes about the actors.
"It’s just out there for everyone to see, and at some point, my son is going to want to Google his dad. It’s the sort of thing where, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I had a diary when I was that age, and I wrote everything in my diary. The fact that you can now put it on the Internet and get really cross about it when people make a comment on it, it just makes me think, that’s interesting.
"Don’t put it on the Internet, then, if you don’t want somebody to comment on it. It’s immediately accessible, and it’s immediately public." [x]
I guess now we know how she really felt about the Caitlin Moran fanfiction drama. WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?
(With the caveat that I take all written interviews with a grain of salt, and that I also worry about my kids and the internet (and I get that concern, I really do, even if the last thing I’m worried about is fan works), and that I wish people wouldn’t show any fan stuff to the cast/crew because they just get the wrong idea and it’s not FOR them)
This is just another in a long line of ‘silly fans and their johnlock fantasies’ and well, quite frankly, fine. Got it. Sorry for liking your show and the amazing relationship you developed, and getting on board the extremely fraught emotional cliffhangers you left us in. Sorry that you took a well known and beloved relationship and modernised it and made it sexy (and you did, you know you wanted it to be sexy) and then we found it sexy. Sorry, as a consumer, for buying what you were selling. Can I return it please?
But for god’s sake, don’t tweet Amanda Abbington hate because it will just confirm her belief that we’re all rabid fans.
I couldn’t agree more.
The idea that Holmes and Watson are doing it is nothing new, and has existed and discussed long before ‘Sherlock’ came to be.
The obsession with sexual relationships and sexual behaviors as well as the whole edgy, sexy, coat-billowing romanticism of their relationship - that’s something ‘Sherlock’ introduced. That’s the fucking idea behind making it modern and current.
Honestly, once the show airs its interpretation no longer belongs to any of the creative parties involved. I respect and cherish the work put in by every writer, actor, director, tech assistant etc., but the show is ours now. Your part is over, stop trying to dictate to me how I should watch your [great, but kinda gay] show.
As for googling your actor parents… I would be more worried about all the actual swearing than the porny drawings.