"Miss Sherlock," a drama series with a female duo whose characters are based on detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant John Watson, debuted on April 27 on the online video-on-demand streaming service Hulu. Yuko Takeuchi, who plays the lead character, talked about her enthusiasm for the ambitious drama in a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.
In the series, Takeuchi plays a detective nicknamed Sherlock, a character depicted as an extremely smart but eccentric person.
While Sherlock is working on a case with the Metropolitan Police Department's criminal investigation section No. 1 as a "consulting detective," she encounters Wato, a female surgeon involved in a murder investigation.
The character of Wato is played by Shihori Kanjiya.
Sherlock and Wato have starkly contrasting personalities and often clash, but the two also feel drawn to each other and decide to live together.
Arthur Conan Doyle's original novels have been dramatized many times. In recent years, a series starring Benedict Cumberbatch produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation was a huge hit.
Takeuchi said, "I decided to forget what I had watched before. Though I had seen some of the series featuring Mr. Cumberbatch, I stopped watching it [after I got the part]. I thought that I should avoid watching the remaining parts to avoid becoming Cumberbatch."
As the story takes place in modern Japan rather than in London in the late 19th century, and the two lead roles are played by women, the drama has a very different feel to other dramatizations.
Takeuchi consulted fashion stylist Tomoki Sukezane to help plan the appearance of the female Sherlock. Takeuchi said she wanted to depict the character's mysterious atmosphere and somewhat masculine personality.
In the drama, Sherlock, as played by Takeuchi, wears a trench coat, high-waisted pants and predominantly dark-colored clothes. "Because the silhouette looks stoic, I think it naturally expresses an image of a person who is stern toward others," she said.
Regarding Sherlock's aloofness in the series, Takeuchi said playfully, "My irritation on set really comes across on screen, doesn't it?"
Jokes aside, it seems filming was truly hard work. "Portraying the extent to which the character had grasped the facts of the crimes by delving deeply into the mind of Sherlock would've been difficult. But taking a casual approach to the role wouldn't have been appropriate either. Every day was a challenge," Takeuchi said.
The drama series was supervised by Naohiko Kitahara, a novelist who is also a member of the extremely enthusiastic group of Sherlock fans known as Sherlockians. Under his instruction, film crew members thoroughly studied the original novels.
The new series is characterized by a lot of hidden trivia in personal and geographical names, which reflect the crew's respect for the original stories -- for example, Wato, the surgeon who assists Sherlock, is named after Watson.
The drama series was jointly produced by Hulu Japan and HBO Asia, and is being broadcast in 19 Asian countries.
At an event to promote the series to the media held in Singapore in November last year, reporters from many countries attended.
Takeuchi said, "For me, other countries had always felt so far away. But it's great that online distribution makes national borders almost meaningless now."
A Hulu subscription costs 933 yen a month, excluding consumption tax. More than 50,000 videos are available to stream online. For more information, visit the Hulu Japan website (https://www.happyon.jp/).
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