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What changed on screen
What changed on screen, title by title: 21 in total. Tap a cover to open it. Titles you haven't marked as read stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- Behind the scenes£25 for the rights
After many rejections, Doyle sold the story to Ward, Lock & Co. for £25, with all rights. It ran in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887.
source ↗ - ReferenceDrawn by his father
The July 1888 book edition carried drawings by Charles Doyle, the author's father.
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- Behind the scenesDinner with Oscar Wilde
The book grew out of an August 1889 dinner with an editor of Lippincott's Magazine. Oscar Wilde was at the table and went on to contribute The Picture of Dorian Gray to the July 1890 issue.
source ↗ - ReferenceSign of Four
In its October 1890 book form, the title came out as The Sign of Four, without the "the" in the second word, from publisher Spencer Blackett.
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- Behind the scenesOne story a month
The twelve stories ran in The Strand Magazine, one a month, from July 1891 to June 1892, illustrated by Sidney Paget. The book followed on October 14, 1892.
source ↗ - ReferenceFrom novel to short story
After The Sign of the Four, Doyle shifted his focus to short stories. These are Holmes's first short stories.
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- ChangeA one-story villain
In the book, Moriarty appears in person only in "The Final Problem". The 2011 film makes him the villain of a whole feature.
source ↗ - ChangeWatson away from the falls
In the story, a false note about a dying Englishwoman draws Watson away from Holmes at the falls. In the film, Watson travels with Holmes for much of the trip.
source ↗ - ChangeMycroft grows
Mycroft first appears in "The Greek Interpreter", in this book, and briefly in "The Final Problem". In the film he is Stephen Fry, with bigger scenes.
source ↗ - ChangeChess instead of a note
In the story, Watson never sees the duel: he only finds Holmes's farewell note and the signs of a struggle by the falls. In the film, Holmes and Moriarty play chess on a balcony during a peace conference.
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- Behind the scenesSerialized first
The story ran in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902 before it became a book.
source ↗ - ReferenceEchoes of other Doyle stories
Doyle may have drawn on his own 1898 stories: "The King of the Foxes", about a giant wolf, and "The Brazilian Cat", about a big cat.
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- ChangeThe sharpshooter
Colonel Sebastian Moran appears in "The Empty House", the first story in the book, as the man who wants Holmes dead. In the 2011 film he is Moriarty's sharpshooter.
source ↗ - ChangeBaritsu
It's in this book, in "The Empty House", that Holmes mentions baritsu. Downey and Guy Ritchie, both martial arts fans, used the mention as a starting point for the films' fights.
source ↗ - ChangeWhat comes next
In the book, Holmes comes back in 1894, three years after "The Final Problem". The 2011 film ends right after the plunge at Reichenbach; Holmes's return, as in the book, comes later.
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- ReferenceA real past
The backstory is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland, real figures from 19th-century America.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe last novel
It is Holmes's fourth and final novel. It ran in The Strand from September 1914 to May 1915, and the first book edition was published by George H. Doran in New York on February 27, 1915.
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- Behind the scenesA wartime epilogue
The story "His Last Bow" ran in Collier's on September 22, 1917, a month before the book, which arrived on October 22, 1917.
source ↗ - ReferenceAugust 1914
The title story is set in August 1914, on the eve of the First World War, and brings Holmes back for a mission against German spies.
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- Behind the scenesSix years of stories
The twelve stories ran in The Strand from October 1921 to April 1927 and were collected in a book in 1927.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe end of the canon
It is the last book of the canon: of Holmes's 56 short stories, these twelve are the last Doyle wrote.
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