Certainly Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have said that the setup makes them feel at home – so what of the guest stars who step over the threshold? Do those actors get that sense of entering another – slightly unsettling - world? “Most of them are really excited when they walk in. I don’t know how that transfers to how they’re meant to react in there. But when they arrive - it’s like kids in toy shops!”  Production Designer Arwel, explains. 

(Pictures and thoughts behind the props.)

A modern alternative to the stiletto always referenced as Holmes’s way of filing the mail, this Leatherman knife actually belonged to Arwel. But because it now has a permanent home on set, he’s had to purchase a replacement.

The skull on the mantelpiece is, of course, a cast, which had to be chiselled out to allow Watson to hide Holmes’s packet of cigarettes inside it in The Hounds of Baskerville.

In the artwork on the wall, parts of the skull are painted on different layers of Perspex, creating a sort of 3D effect. Even shot in 2D, the depth created and the weirdness of the effect make for an impressive addition to the set.

“We wanted to blur the edge between laboratory and kitchen,” says Arwel, suggesting Holmes would think nothing of boiling the kettle next to an experiment on a severed hand - or heating up beans on a Bunsen burner.

This magpie seal was inspired by the music playing on Moriarty’s headphones (Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie) as he staged his daring break-ins. It also influenced the winged IOU graffiti on a Baker Street wall.

Sherlock’s headstone was made by a local stonemason who was sworn to secrecy. Arwel stored it at home and transported it on location, where the scene in the cemetery was shot by a skeleton crew (no pun intended).

The bison sporting earphones is Arwel’s favourite object on the set of 221b. The animal skull was purchased online and sprayed a glossy black before it was mounted on the wall. The headphones were a last-minute, spur-of the moment addition.

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