BBC Sherlock Bechdel Test
Aaannnddd the results are in! Someone suggested I make one of these for Sherlock. The percentages don’t really work as well, seeing as there are only 6 episodes.
There is something called the Bechdel Test. It’s a scale you run movies through to see how well they represent female characters.
The test is as follows: 1. It must have at least two named female characters. 2. They must speak to each other. 3. They must converse about something other than a man. Anything with a score lower than 3 fails.
I’ve run all of the episodes of BBC Sherlock through this test and here are my results:
Steven Moffat - Study in Pink - 1
Stephen Thompson - Blind Banker - 1
Mark Gattiss - Great Game - 1
Steven Moffat - Scandal in Belgravia - 3
Mark Gattiss - Hounds of Baskerville - 1
Stephen Thompson - Reichenbach - 150% of Steven Moffat’s episodes failed.
100% of Stephen Thompson’s episodes failed.
100% of Mark Gatiss’ episodes failed.
83% of episodes failed total.
Ouch. The only passing episode was Scandal in Belgravia, for a scene in which Irene and her assistant(?) Kate talk about what she should wear. They are talking about what she should wear to meet Sherlock, but since he isn’t mentioned, I gave it to them. Also, Mrs. Hudson and Molly might have talked at 221B later, but I already gave this a 3, so I didn’t look.
Sherlock failed badly. They had a number of female characters, but they’re never in the same room as each other. Hopefully next season we’ll get some Mary Morstan and things might change.
I also made one of these for Doctor Who, which you can find here.
I wish I could say that I’m surprised, but I’m not.
