My main pastimes — reading and on-demand television — have no doubt influenced my practice through the so-called “halo effect”. Paul Kalanithi’s book “When Breath becomes Air” forced me to re-evaluate my work-life balance, while the Netflix series “House of Cards” led me to imagine that I was the victim of an intricate work-based conspiracy involving my practice manager and a local Conservative counsellor.
Fortunately, my latest obsession in the world of digital video content is Sherlock Holmes. There are numerous iterations, but my favourite to date is Benedict Cumberbatch’s modern take on the detective. I’m drawn in by the use of visualisation to convey Sherlock’s inner workings. Clues become text, which swirls around the screen becoming something else entirely. Messages on his mobile phone are displayed in real time and details of the crime scenes highlighted to reveal clues. It’s as if there is a higher power at work guiding both Sherlock and the audience through the mysterious maze.
It’s apt that I consequently took to becoming my own version of ‘modern Sherlock’. Fed up of the world seeing GPs as the honest but dim-witted Watson, I took it upon myself to change our image in the public arena.
