Sherlock – The Clue is in the Subtitles
I have blogged previously about this popular BBC TV series before and how Sherlock uses visual text on screen as part of the storytelling process (this is actually one of my most popular posts for hit counts!). Last week the BBC did something rather cool involving the subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for this series.
On Friday 12th July the BBC scheduled a repeat of an episode and urged viewers to tune in to look for clues not previously released in any other broadcast of the episode that would give fans a sneak peek into an episode title for the next series due to air later this year/beginning of 2014.
Like previous broadcasts the episode was subtitled for the deaf and hard of hearing. But in addition for this repeat only, the subtitles also displayed in the top left hand corner, letters that acted as clues to viewers and was part of the promotion to encourage repeated viewing and speculation about the new series. Nothing to do with providing access, but a fitting way to uses subtitles as part of a promotional campaign for the series. If you were watching without the subtitles switched on, you would have missed the clues but this is entirely fitting as a campaign to the programme to think outside the box and consider all your options. Below are screen shots showing the letters being displayed in the subtitles in the top left of the screen so not to be confused with any of the subtitled audio dialogue:
Sherlock BBC TV series – clues in the subtitles – The letter ‘H’
SOURCE: tumblr
Sherlock BBC TV series – clues in the subtitles – The letter ‘I’
SOURCE: tumblr
Sherlock BBC TV series – clues in the subtitles – The letter ‘S’
SOURCE: tumblr
It spells HIS, now fans just have to work out its significance in terms of the episode title.
Tessa, 
i heart subtitles 
NPHule 4:22 am on December 5, 2013 Permalink |
The subtitles look far better and cleaner on Indian television.
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iheartsubtitles 2:33 pm on December 5, 2013 Permalink |
Hi Natalia. Better how? The images themselves are not of the highest quality which might be why the subtitles don’t look as clear as they could if that is what you mean.
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NPHule 8:39 am on December 14, 2013 Permalink |
Hello! The subtitles are lower on the screen and they are not highlighted in black. That way the screen appears cleaner.
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Tessa 11:13 pm on October 9, 2014 Permalink |
Thanks for this post! I’m only a recent follower, so coming late to this post. I am a screen scholar and I research issues around translation, access, etc… Just wondering if you can explain this Sherlock promotional campaign in some more detail. Were the clues only visible when closed captioning was switched on? If so, was this advertised? Was the promotion for both hearing and hard of hearing viewers?
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iheartsubtitles 8:53 pm on October 15, 2014 Permalink |
Hi Tessa. Yes the clues were only visible if you had closed captioning switched on. I believe the campaign was promoted via social media telling viewers to watch the repeat closely to look for clues but it wasn’t made obvious that the clue would be in the subtitles. That didn’t stop viewers putting their Sherlock cap on and finding it though 🙂 In fact without those fans, I wouldn’t have known about it myself! Hope that helps. Good luck with your research.
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Tessa 3:26 am on October 16, 2014 Permalink
Thanks so much for your reply and for clarifying. Wow. Pretty innovative to use closed captioning in this way – and fits in really well with Sherlock’s other forms of textual play. Would love to hear about it, if you come across any similar types of promos. Cheers.
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