Sherlock, A High-Functioning Sociopath
Kavitha Babu
Starring Benedict Cumberbatch on BBC, Sherlock is one of the most popular T.V. shows to come out of the United Kingdom; it has been sold to 224 countries worldwide. As the company is based in the UK, hence the acronym for the British Broadcasting Corporation, the release of the show and its byproducts have helped the country’s economy sufficiently, at least the entertainment sector. Except, the release of long awaited series (a.k.a. season) 4, may have had unforeseen effects on the television programme and possibly on the BBC.
The show focuses on Sherlock Holmes and best friend John Watson, played by Martin Freeman. As many have said, the show’s success is because of these two actors and their wonderfully heartwarming chemistry. With magnetic storylines, witty comebacks, and numerous plot twists, Sherlock has developed one of the largest fandoms on the Internet. If you wish to divulge in this phenomena, then here lies the gate to this dark abyss. It also happens to have a major female audience, especially those aged 16-25. In my opinion, I would say this is because of the numerous ships between characters on the show, especially Johnlock. The ship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson is one of most popular amongst the Internet. Fans go wild over the relationship between these two characters, whether it be a friendship, or as many believe, a romance. (As for me, I totally ship it. I mean, have you seen the way they look at each other? They are in love, I tell you. Absolutely, irrevocably in love.).
Being one of the major sources of revenue for the BBC, Sherlock is responsible for much of the entertainment finances. In 2012, their total revenue was £407 million, whereas in 2014 the total revenue was £526 million. Since 2014, however, the BBC is slowly decreasing in terms of their profits, and have been undergoing a deficit.
The income of this firm, thus is a part of the United Kingdom’s gross domestic product. Although, their portion is small in the GDP, being the largest broadcaster in the world, the BBC has a lot of influence domestically and internationally in terms of sales, be it through their news branch, worldwide branch, or entertainment branches. As seen in the graph below, the UK’s GDP has been increasing steadily, despite a few recessions here and there. Since consumer spending is a major part of GDP, the amount of money spent on Sherlock merchandising, DVD/Blu-Ray box sets, redistributed books, and many other products sold by the BBC, this show does in fact make an impact towards this value, however large or small it may be. 
The release of the fourth series has sparked controversy, however, amongst fans and critics alike. In 2010, the first series had an average rating of 85 (out of 100). Series two, released in 2012, had an average of 92/100. And in 2014, the third series, captured a rating of 88. It’s sustained progress however came to an abrupt drop to 63, in series four. Having been four weeks since series four has come to a close, many fans across the world have been disappointed.
This show contains three 90-minute episodes per series, and as seen, each series has a long hiatus in between. There has been one special, released in 2016, which made over £24 million worldwide in the box office. However, in my opinion and many others, the previous seasons have had a unique feeling to them that was completely lacking in the fourth. The essence of Sherlock was the relationship between John and Sherlock as they solved mysteries. Each of the three episodes connect together, creating a larger storyline. There’s a classic villain, jaw-dropping moments, and epic cliffhangers. The whole show is a masterpiece, then came series four.
Without becoming a T.V. show critique, I digress. Having such an impact, the disappointment of this latest series has been lashed onto the BBC. Because of this major downfall, fans are expecting a series five to blow them away. The BBC has not directly taken this head on yet, but the unexpected turn of events has had many diminishing effects towards the company. Because of this, I suspect that in this year, the BBC’s revenue will decrease quite a bit, at least more than usual. Although since the influence is not large, the GDP will still continue to increase as a whole.
Although series four was a mess in some areas, there were some amazing Johnlock moments. So, to those who I may have discouraged from watching this show, it’s still amazing. Sherlock is the best thing to ever exist. Here is a link to the YouTube channel for trailers, clips, and interviews. I highly recommend it, especially for the first three seasons. I guarantee it will blow you away. There are some people who loved series four, so if you’re not much of a critic then go watch it on Netflix. And so, was series four really a mistake? Do John and Sherlock end up together? Will you lose your mind and want to scream every waking moment? I guess you’ll just have to find out for yourself.
Sherlock is a really unique show in the way it is set-up. By having only three episodes per season and a large amount of time between the release of each new season, you are creating suspense and increasing demand for the show. However, this may lead to a fall in ratings (season four) because in the time between shows, viewers create expectations of what the next season will be and are sometimes disappointed with the results. However, I still think this set-up is very smart and its release on Netflix and endless debates on character relationships (ships) can only add to its popularity.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of TV shows or sporting events on TV having an impact on the GDP of a country is fascinating. TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, SNL and others certainly have ways to influence the consumer spending through the advertisements that are run during the episode or event. These ads have ways to influence the aggregate demand of all types of products.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you touched on the effect that this show has on the GDP of the UK; I think we often forget as audience members or fans of a TV show, movie, type of music, etc., that this media brings in a lot of money and plays a big role in our economy. I'm sure that if there is any Sherlock merchandise like clothing, books, accessories, or other items that are sold in addition to the TV series, that that collection can also be added in the consumer spending portion of the GDP for Sherlock as well. So if we really took a step back to look at what the show Sherlock has done for the UK, the show really has had a positive externality on the economy and brought in a lot of money. Even though there may be some controversy with the new series/season, the unarguable fact is the fact that the show really has made quite the impact on Britain's economy.
ReplyDeleteFrom my knowledge, there is quite a lot of Sherlock merchandise, although many aren't official. I have been meaning to buy Pop Vinyl Figures and other such little knick knacks. When I was researching about the BBC, I guess I never realized the amount of byproducts that come out of different TV Shows, be it from the UK or elsewhere. Anything that consumers spend their money on, granted they within the given country, all go towards the GDP. I guess when you look at some of the macro topics, you don't realize all the little things the economy encompasses. This can be from merchandising to albums or even video games. Like you said, this show's reach around the world has made such an impact on the UK (and quite frankly Benedict Cumberbatch). It will be interesting to see how the next seasons (if they are even made, which hopefully they are) will affect the BBC, along with its rippling effects throughout the United Kingdom and the world. Being one of my favorite TV shows of all time, I will be devastated to see it go. But, since my opinions on the latest season were critical, I can see why. However, who knows what might happen in the future, maybe the writers will step up their game once again.
DeleteBeing a Sherlock fan myself, I completely understand how you're feeling on the first three seasons and the fourth. Why, is really all I have to say about that. As for your info, I have to say that touching on how well the show did and how it effects the UK's economy is something I never would have thought about. It's very interesting to me (yet somehow not surprising) that the UK's entertainment section received so much revenue for their production of the show. I've heard that revenue from the show exceeded cost of production in vast amounts, which is why they were able to do so much after the first season. With the revenue tied to general criticism of the show, it's interesting to see the correlation between the two. If you wanted to see how well the show was doing, (let's say if you didn't have access to any critic sources) all you would have to do is see how much money they made per season. With that, I very much enjoyed reading the facts and figures. (Johnlock forever)
ReplyDeleteI have watched Sherlock ever since the beginning and I was surprised to see that the ratings for season 4 had dropped so much! I knew that some people were disappointed, but not by that much. I guess this is probably because people are starting to expect too much from the show and the actors. They can only do so much, and when what they do doesn’t meet viewers high expectations, they stop watching, meaning ratings and profits to BBC goes down. Even though Sherlock’s ratings are going down, other popular BBC shows ratings are slowly climbing. Because of this, the UK’s GDP shouldn’t be affected too much (like you said).
ReplyDeleteI feel like people shouldn’t have such high expectations for shows. Yes, they could be amazing and you want them to up their game, but there is only so much that they can do. Many people (who haven’t seen the show yet) are also hearing about how season 4 isn’t meeting their expectations, leading them to not want to watch it from the beginning. People should really give season 4 a chance, because who knows. Maybe season 5 will be the season they have all been waiting for. I know for sure that I will keep watching. :)
Though I am not familiar with Sherlock, I have always found it to be an interesting concept -- especially considering it focuses on the infamous Sherlock Holmes. Despite this, I have never gotten around to seeing it. However, I can empathize with the idea that a show does heavily rely on ratings in order to turn a profit. By getting better ratings, a show is able to sell more of its merchandise, which -- in turn -- allows the show runners to continue making episodes for said show with that profit. However, if a show does poorly in critical terms, then less people will watch it, which leads to the show selling less merchandise and gives show runners less money to produce their show -- which could eventually lead to said show being cancelled if it becomes too expensive to produce. An example of the latter occurred with another relatively popular show; CW's "Arrow". "Arrow" was one of CW's best rated shows at the time, and did consistently well in its ratings. However, the show saw a major decline in its ratings -- coincidentally in season four of the show -- which motivated many to stop watching the show. As a result, the show currently struggles today despite improved ratings. I can only hope that "Sherlock" does not meet a similar fate.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite interesting your viewpoint on the effect of GDP and how it connects with TV shows. It is also interesting to think how the aggregate demand can be increased and decreased which would affect the consumer spending. Due to the ads that are played during the shows and based off the shows can highly affect the demand. For example, the actor who plays Jay in Modern Family, is in many health and wellness commercials which could attract some consumers which would increase their spending and then increase the aggregate demand.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find those stats/information about the revenue? Your article is very interesting and has encouraged me to do more research!
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