Page 89 - SHERLOCK transcripts
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SHERLOCK: If you want to hide a tree, then a forest is the best place to do it, wouldn’t you say?
People would just walk straight past, not knowing, unable to decipher the message.
(Raz points to a particular area on the heavily-graffitied walls.)
RAZ: There. I spotted it earlier.
(Amongst all the other paint there are slashes of the yellow paint forming Chinese symbols.
Some of them are already partially painted over by other artists’ tags and pictures.)
SHERLOCK: They have been in here. (To Raz) And that’s the exact same paint?
RAZ: Yeah.
SHERLOCK: John, if we’re going to decipher this code, we’re gonna need to look for more
evidence.
The two of them split up and begin searching. Sherlock walks along the end of a railway line
and finds an abandoned spray can on the tracks. Squatting down to pick it up, he puts the end
of his flashlight into his mouth and runs a thumb over the yellow paint on the nozzle, then sniffs
the nozzle [anything for a quick fix, eh, Sherlock?!].
John walks through an underpass, looking closely at the graffiti and posters on the walls as he
goes.
Sherlock is now walking past a wall which has many posters glued to it. One of the posters
attracts his attention and he tears off the bottom corner of it and takes it with him as he
continues onwards.
John is now out on the railway lines. His flashlight picks out splashes of yellow paint on the
sleepers and on the rails, then he raises his light to a brick wall, possibly the wall of a
maintenance shed, which is about fifteen feet wide. He steps back, his mouth open in surprise
as he begins to realise that the entire wall is covered with large yellow Chinese symbols.
Later he has finally tracked down Sherlock who is currently looking at the side of a parked rail
freight container.
JOHN (trotting towards him): Answer your phone! I’ve been calling you! I’ve found it.
(He turns around again and the two of them run off into the night side by side, Sherlock’s coat
billowing behind him. Your transcriber struggles to resist the urge to sing the Batman theme
tune.)
Back at the wall, John leads Sherlock towards it, but his mouth drops open in surprise again,
this time for a different reason. The entire wall is now blank.
JOHN: It’s been painted over!
(Sherlock shines his flashlight around the area as John continues to stare at the wall in
disbelief.)
JOHN: I don’t understand. It-it was here ... (he stumbles backwards) ... ten minutes ago. I saw
it. A whole load of graffiti!
SHERLOCK: Somebody doesn’t want me to see it.
(He turns and grabs the sides of John’s head in both hands.)
JOHN: Hey, Sherlock, what are you doing ...?
SHERLOCK: Shh, John, concentrate. I need you to concentrate. Close your eyes.
JOHN: No, what? Why? Why?
(Sherlock lowers his hands to hold John by the upper arms.)
JOHN: What are you doing?!
[Protesting too much is what you’re doing, John, honey. Just KISS HIM!]
(Sherlock starts to spin them slowly around on the spot, staring intensely into John’s eyes.)
SHERLOCK: I need you to maximise your visual memory. Try to picture what you saw. Can you
picture it?
JOHN: Yeah.
SHERLOCK: Can you remember it?
JOHN: Yes, definitely.
SHERLOCK: Can you remember the pattern?
JOHN: Yes!
SHERLOCK: How much can you remember it?
JOHN: Well, don’t worry ...
SHERLOCK (still spinning them): Because the average human memory on visual matters is only
sixty-two percent accurate.
JOHN: Yeah, well, don’t worry – I remember all of it.
SHERLOCK (disbelievingly): Really?
Transcripts by Ariane DeVere (arianedevere@livejournal.com)

