Sometimes it s the little details that really make a period piece. Although
Moriarty the Patriot hasn t been terrific with women s costumes, every so often it slips in a perfectly researched bit of Victoriana that really makes up for a lot of ills. This week s episode has two: the uniform of the Great Northern Railway conductor and Sherlock Holmes box of matches. Bryant and May s Flaming Fusees were a real brand of matches used in the late Victorian period, of a type made with yellow phosphorus that caused a condition called “fossy jaw” in the women who manufactured them. (I wouldn t suggest looking fossy jaw up unless you have a strong stomach or enjoy nightmares.) I m not sure if his cigarettes would have produced quite so much smoke in real life as they do in this episode (or if they were just tobacco; this is Holmes after all), but the box of matches was such a wonderful detail that it sets the scene immediately.