'Sherlock' Season 4 News: Amanda Abbington Responds To Claims Of Show's Sexism & 'Mansplaining'
Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington is fighting back against claims of sexism in the series.
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The Sherlock holiday special The Abominable Bride featured a scene where Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) explains feminism in regard to the Suffragette movement. Some thought the scene erred on the side of "mansplaining," an Internet-coined phenomenon describing a situation in which a man explains a concept to a woman in a patronizing manner.
But Abbington, who plays Mary on Sherlock, spoke on This Morning about not fully grasping the controversy.
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"I didn't understand. It was all set inside Sherlock's head and as we know Sherlock doesn't really like women that much, he doesn't really understand women," she admitted.
She explained further, "They touched on Suffragettes, as it was still in the early stages, we touched upon that. All the women in it are really strong and I didn't really understand the point of that but it was a story and I think if you're telling a story about two men--it's called Sherlock--so it's going to be about the two men in it."
Abbington admitted that even some of her fellow female co-stars, like Louise Brealey, didn't see a big problem with the scene.
"The women in it including [Loo Brealey], it didn't even register that we were doing anything that was sexist," Abbington said.
Meanwhile, the fourth season of Sherlock is expected to be filmed this spring, with an air date anticipated for early 2017.
