神探夏洛克中国受热捧 被赞制作精良

Zhou Yeling couldn’t wait until 7am for a long-awaited date with her favourite Englishman.

The 19-year-old from the city of Shanghai dragged herself out of bed at 5am to watch the third season premiere of Sherlock on the BBC’s website. Two hours later, the episode started showing with Chinese subtitles on Youku.com, a video website. Youku says it was viewed more than 5 million times in the first 24 hours, becoming the site’s most popular programme to date.

“I was excited beyond words,” said Zhou, a student in the central Chinese city of Changsha.

Sherlock has become a global phenomenon, but nowhere more than in China, which was one of the first countries where the new season was shown.

Online fan clubs have attracted thousands of members. Chinese fans write their own stories about the modern version of author Arthur Conan Doyle’s prickly, Victorian detective and his sidekick, Dr Watson, to fill the time between the brief, three-episode seasons.

In Shanghai, an entrepreneur has opened a Sherlock-themed cafe.

“The Sherlock production team shoot something more like a movie, not just a TV drama,” said Yu Fei, a veteran writer of TV crime dramas for Chinese television. Scenes in which Holmes spots clues in a suspect’s clothes or picks apart an alibi are so richly detailed that “it seems like a wasteful luxury,” Yu said.

Even the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily is a fan.

“Tense plot, bizarre story, exquisite production, excellent performances,” it said of the third season’s first episode.

With its mix of odd villains, eccentric aristocrats and fashionable London settings, Sherlock can draw on a Chinese fondness for a storybook version of Britain. Wealthy Chinese send their children to local branches of British schools such as Eton and Dulwich.

On the outskirts of Shanghai, a developer has built Thames Town, modelled on an English village with mock Tudor houses and classic red phone booths.

“The whole drama has the rich scent of British culture and nobility,” Yu said. “Our drama doesn’t have that.”

The series has given a boost to Youku.com, part of a fast-growing Chinese online video industry. Dozens of sites, some independent and others run by Chinese television stations, show local and imported programmes such as The Good Wife and The Big Bang Theory.

Youku.com says that after two weeks, total viewership for the Sherlock third season premiere had risen to 14.5 million people. That compares with the 8 to 9 million people who the BBC says watch first-run episodes in Britain. The total in China is bumped up by viewers on pay TV service BesTV, which also has rights to the programme.

Appearing online gives Sherlock an unusual edge over Chinese dramas. To support a fledgling industry, communist authorities have exempted video websites from most censorship and limits on showing foreign programming that apply to traditional TV stations. That allows outlets such as Youku to show series that might be deemed too violent or political for state TV and to release them faster.

“Our writers and producers face many restrictions and censorship. We cannot write about national security and high-level government departments,” Yu said.

Referring to Mycroft Holmes, a shadowy government official and key character, Yu said, “Sherlock’s brother could not appear in a police drama in China.”

周叶玲（音）期待与她的英国男神夏洛克相会已经太久了，她迫不及待地一睹7点该剧新一季的首播。

这位19岁的上海姑娘凌晨5点就起床了，她打开英国广播公司（BBC）的网站，等待《神探夏洛克》第三季在线首播。两小时后，该剧在优酷网同步播出，配有中文字幕。优酷网称，该剧上线24小时内点击率超过500万次，成为该网站截止目前最受欢迎的节目。

在中国中部城市长沙上学的周叶玲说：“我的兴奋之情无以言表。”

夏洛克已经在全球掀起了一股热潮，而其在中国的热度更是高于其他国家。中国是该剧同步首播的几个国家之一。

在网上，该剧的粉丝俱乐部已经吸引了数千成员。该剧改编自柯南•道尔原著，将主人公维多利亚时代侦探福尔摩斯和搭档华生引入现代。在第三季开播之前，中国粉丝们就写下了自己对《神探夏洛克》续集的演绎，以填补两季间的空档。

上海还有位企业家开了一家以“神探夏洛克”为主题的咖啡馆。

中国犯罪题材电视剧的资深剧作家于飞（音）说：“《神探夏洛克》的制作团队拍出来的作品更像电影，而不止是电视剧。”在某些场景中，福尔摩斯从一名嫌犯的衣服上发现蛛丝马迹，或者拆穿不在场证明等，细节如此丰富，甚至“看起来奢侈得有点浪费”，于飞说。

连《人民日报》都成了夏洛克的粉丝。

该报对神探夏洛克第三季首集的评价是：“情节紧张、故事离奇、制作精良、演技精湛”。

集各种恶人、特立独行的英国贵族和时尚的伦敦外景于一身，《神探夏洛克》让中国观众爱上了书中所写的英国。中国富人们纷纷把孩子送到英国学校，如伊顿公学或者德威公学。

开发商在上海郊外建起了泰晤士小镇，该房地产项目引入英国小镇建筑风格，随处可见英国都铎王朝时期的房子样式和经典的红色电话亭。

于飞说：“整部电视剧充满了英国文化和贵族风情。这在我们的电视剧里是没有的。”

电视剧也给视频网站优酷带来巨大的浏览量。中国在线视频产业发展迅速，独立运营网站或依托电视台运营的网站竞相播放外国电视剧，比如《傲骨贤妻》（The Good Wife）和《生活大爆炸》（The Big Bang Theory）。

优酷表示，开播两周之后，《神探夏洛克》第三季第一集的总浏览量已经达到了1450万人次。在英国，在BBC观看该集的观众人数为800到900万人。中国的整体观众人数，如果算上使用付费电视BesTV的服务观看该剧的人的话，还会更多。

《神探夏洛克》的在线播放让该剧享受了特别优待，这是中国内地电视剧所没有的。为了支持内地这个尚不成熟的产业，政府对播放外国电视剧的视频网站豁免了大部分的审查要求和限制，而内地传统电视台则需要受到相关规管。这让优酷这样的网站能够播放一些对于国有电视台来说太暴力或太政治化的剧集，而且网站的播放时间也比电视台早。

于飞说：“我们的编剧和制作人受到许多限制和审查。我们不能写有关国家安全或者其他政府高级部门的电视剧。”

谈到主要人物-神秘的政府官员迈克罗夫特•福尔摩斯（Mycroft Holmes），于飞说：“像夏洛克的哥哥这样的角色不可能在中国的警匪剧中出现。”