Between 2010 and 2017, a BBC adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories lit up TV screens and set fire to viewers’ imaginations over four seasons and 14 episodes. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock is a miniseries that offers a modern take on the great detective’s (mis)adventures. Of course, this is not the first, or perhaps even the last, time Conan Doyle’s works have been adapted to the screen, and it’s not the only one to take a modern approach to things, either. What sets Sherlock apart is its unique take on its characters and the incredible cast that brings them to life.
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Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes becomes a sociopath with a weakness for his best friend; Andrew Scott’s Moriarty is obsessive and spidery, while Mark Gatiss as Mycroft, well, he is someone who even Sherlock reckons may be smarter than him. But while the younger brother goes on mad adventures to solve murder mysteries, Mycroft Holmes likes to use his talents to run the show from behind the scenes. He seems to be someone with endless powers, someone who can make people and murder records disappear, control CCTVs at will, and access extremely high-level confidential records. But what kind of job does he have that affords him near-endless control over, well, everything?
Mycroft Holmes: The Man, the Mystery, the Government?
According to Mycroft, he holds a low-ranking position in the government. According to Sherlock, though, Mycroft practically IS the British Government. In fact, he declares as much in “The Hounds of Baskerville” episode, stating, “Mycroft’s name literally opens doors. I’ve told you, he practically is the British government.”
Does that make Mycroft the Prime Minister? Perhaps not, since there are a few instances when Mycroft himself refers to the PM as a separate entity, one whom he clearly has access to. In fact, he seems to have access to everyone, including the royal family. This is established in “A Scandal in Belgravia”, when he tasks Sherlock, on behalf of the Queen (or a senior member of the royal family), to retrieve compromising pictures of a member of the royal family from Irene Adler (Lara Pulver). In fact, he seems to be the person whom the truly powerful go to when they need things done inconspicuously.
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But what gives Mycroft the power and the level of clearance to pull off everything that he does in the show and, honestly, even in the books? Conan Doyle himself doesn’t quite clear the mystery either, merely saying that the character holds but a small position in the government. Yet his mere name is enough to open the doors to the most secret military facilities, like in “The Hounds of Baskerville”. He is definitely not a politician. He is more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. He doesn’t appear on TV or have his face plastered across newspapers. Powerful as he is, he is not a familiar face, which allows him to operate in secrecy.
According to Magnussen’s mind palace files, he is part of the MI6, the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, aka SIS. He could be the head of MI6; it would certainly give him the all-pervasive omniscience he seems to have. But, unlike the SIS, he seems to be more involved with internal national matters rather than with foreign espionage, although he certainly seems capable of it, as evidenced by his rescue of Sherlock after the Reichenbach incident. Could that mean that his reach goes even higher, beyond even MI6’s? With his knowledge of government secrets, national defense plans, and even foreign matters, he could be involved with the Joint Intelligence Committee. It would certainly give him the access and the clearance he seems to have. He is not the chairman of the committee, of course, since the identity of the chair is common knowledge. So far, this seems to be the only plausible theory. And yet…
Mycroft Holmes is the powerhouse, the one who’s in control in nearly every situation. Aside from how Sherlock survived the Reichenbach fall, Mycroft’s job is the biggest mystery of the show. Even in the books, Conan Doyle never really answers this question. So, it is perhaps appropriate that the show took the same approach to it as well. Frustrating as it is, it does add to the mystery surrounding him. And perhaps that is the point of it all. That no matter how many theories and plausible explanations we come up with, we will never truly know the answer.
You can stream BBC’s Sherlock on Hulu, Britbox, Roku, Prime Video, Disney+, and PBS streaming services.
