Not even Sherlock Holmes has the answer.

I didn't watch 'Sherlock' on TV over Christmas. But some people at work did. And they were talking today about how the (very few) female characters depicted in it were either sluts or mental. Not all that good really.

Then one of the other people at work who hadn't seen it told us about this thing called The Bechdel Test and asked it if would've passed it.

I'd never heard of the test before now, but it instantly reminded me about the blog post I wrote late last year about pointless female characters in films.

Essentially, The Bechdel Test is much cleverer and more succinct way of saying what I was trying to say in hundreds of rambling words:

1. Does a film have two or more female characters, with names?
2. Do they talk to each other?
3. If they talk to each other, is it a conversation about something other than a man or men?

If the answer is yes to all the above, then you have passed the Bechdel test! (And you are probably in the minority, because as you can see from the film, MOST movies are test fails.)

If the answer is no to all of the above, then you are abviously the script writer of 'Sherlock' and you have some serious work to do.