AS SEEN ON TV: MIKE STAMFORD

MIKE STAMFORD

AS SEEN IN:

'Sherlock'

CREATED BY:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

PORTRAYED BY:

David Nellist

TV DIMENSION:

Limbo

From Wikipedia:

The story begins in 1881, where Dr. John Watson runs into an old friend, Stamford. Due to a shoulder injury sustained in the Anglo-Afghan War, Watson was forced to retire and is now looking for a place to live. Stamford reveals that an acquaintance of his, Sherlock Holmes, is looking for someone to split the rent at a flat at 221B, Baker Street.

Stamford takes Watson to the local hospital's lab, where Holmes experiments with a reagent for haemoglobin detection. Watson reveals that he is willing to split the rooms at 221B and he and Holmes list all of their faults to make sure that they accept living with each other.

From the "Sherlock Wiki":

Mike Stamford is a doctor who attended medical school with John Watson at St Bartholomew's Hospital and went on to teach there. He seems to be on good terms with Sherlock Holmes. Stamford introduces him to John Watson after hearing both state separately that they are looking for a flatshare in London. He appears only in "A Study in Pink", but is mentioned in "A Scandal in Belgravia ".

He is seen commenting on John's blog, and according to Sherlock's observations, he and John still go out drinking occasionally.

There is only one Sherlock Holmes in Earth Prime-Time, and he is portrayed by Jeremy Brett and situated in the correct time period for Conan Doyle's stories. It is the Toobworld Central premise that the Dr. John Watson of 'Sherlock' is from the modern era of Earth Prime-Time who did not survive his wounds in Afghanistan and is now in Limbo - in much the same way as happened to others in the TV shows 'Life On Mars' (UK), 'Ashes To Ashes', 'Madigan', and the sixth season of 'Lost'.

There, his soul soon teams up with that of Sherlock Holmes, who serves as his mentor until he's ready to move on to the next stage. He is just one in a long line of John Watsons who have been shepherded through the afterlife by Holmes' soul. (And like the soul of Gene Hunt, Holmes has also altered his appearance.)

In Limbo, there are other souls who sometimes help Holmes out in fleshing out this version of the world, and who have been seen in other TV shows as such. Inspector Lestrade, for example - on 'Ashes To Ashes', he took on the identity of Danny Moore in order to interact with Alex Drake at one point in her time in Limbo. 

 Forensics investigator Anderson, a thorn in the side of Sherlock Holmes, reached out to the world of the living (through the television screen, of course) in order to entice a character to commit suicide in 'Being Human'. In his own life, he was probably not a nice person and Sherlock Holmes probably picked up on that.....

And then there's Mike Stamford. I believe that within the Limbo world of 'Sherlock', "Mike Stamford" is an angel who serves as a ferryman type - making sure each new John Watson over the decades finds his way to meeting the soul of Sherlock Holmes. And to maintain the illusion of a modern version of Sherlock Holmes' life, he has adopted the name of "Stamford". ("Mike" is his own touch, but not because he's Michael the Archangel. Michael the Archangel has a different destiny as seen in other shows, like 'Supernatural'.)

There was no way 'Sherlock' could ever be part of Earth Prime-Time, and just to be relegated to a parallel Toobworld in modern times wasn't interesting enough for such a great show. (Best to leave that to 'Elementary' - a good show, but not brilliant.) So I came up with the Limbo angle to help flesh out the world of those other series. And I think Stamford as the ferryman is a nice touch.....

Everybody limbo!

BCnU!