Ophelia plays Holmes’s spirited protégée

Holmes' prot�g�e is threatened by his friendship with Joan Watson in Elementary

Holmes' prot�g�e is threatened by his friendship with Joan Watson in Elementary

Published Jan 22, 2015

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AFTER an abrupt departure to London to join MI6, Sherlock Holmes (played by Johnny Lee Miller) is back in New York. And he isn’t alone.

The third season of Elementary starts with an interesting twist in the form of Ophelia Lovibond as Katheryn “Kitty” Winter – Holmes’ somewhat impetuous and spirited new protégée.

With his relationship with Watson somewhat fractured by his previous actions, there is an interesting dynamic at play between the two. More so with Watson (Liu) embracing her independence.

Liu reveals: “While Sherlock has been gone, in those eight months she has been working with the NYPD, still with Bell and Gregson, and has developed a relationship on her own. And she has also started her own private investigation company.

“The relationship between Sherlock and Watson in the beginning of season three is pretty contentious and there are a lot of undercurrents – emotional instability between them. I think it’s basically because she feels very close to him but was very hurt by his actions.”

Of course, the arrival of Kitty doesn’t help any.

“There is a bunch of friction and a bit of jealousy – not so much from Watson’s part.”

Lovibond, a fresh-faced British actress, lived near Baker Street and, sort of, grew up with this story. That she is a part of the modern retelling is very satisfying for her.

On her character, she offers: “Sherlock is going to train her in the same way he trained Watson. But Kitty is much more volatile than Watson ever was. She is much less measured and has a bit of temper and he is trying to furnish her with the wherewithal to harness that because he sees potential in her to be a really good sleuth. And he knows that she has come from quite a difficult background.”

However, Kitty hates sitting on the sidelines watching Sherlock and Watson at work. And she is unsettled by their understanding of each other.

Lovibond reveals: “Kitty is very much in the back seat and she sees it. She doesn’t understand why all of a sudden she is being usurped by Watson and she is jealous of her. But she slowly realises that Watson isn’t a threat. And that they can co-exist – also because Sherlock forces her to accept Watson at a distance… and then slowly they just kind of come together.

And the newcomer is elated to be working with these two seasoned lead actors.

This series has been quite a coup in her career trajectory, too.

She offers: “In English television you get all the scripts at the beginning. You know everything that’s going to happen so coming at it from this approach was very different. Then I realised, quite quickly, that you don’t know what’s going to happen in life. You don’t know what twists and turns there will be, so it does keep it very fresh.”

Of her favourite scene so far, she notes: “I loved doing the scene with Aidan Quinn (Captain Thomas “Tommy” Gregson). His daughter, a police officer, is hit by her boyfriend – another police officer. And that resonated with Kitty, who decides to do something about it.”

In the upcoming episode, Kitty unwittingly throws a spanner in the works of a double homicide investigation. Let’s just say, jealousy once again gets the better of her.

• Elementary 3 airs on M-Net (DStv channel 101) on Mondays at 9.30pm.

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