There have been many television incarnations of Sherlock Holmes, varying in faithfulness to the source material from direct adaptations of Holmes stories, most notably
The Hound of the Baskervilles, to new stories set in the present day and even the future.
Television series Possibly the earliest television appearance was the 1951 British pilot episode,
The Man Who Disappeared, based in part on the short story "
The Man with the Twisted Lip"; the series was not sold. It starred
John Longden as Holmes and
Campbell Singer as Watson. It was shot on film and does survive today. The same year also saw the six-episode
BBC miniseries
Sherlock Holmes starring
Alan Wheatley as Holmes and
Raymond Francis as Watson. Unfortunately this series was broadcast live without recordings being made. Three years later, the first American adaptation of Holmes and Watson,
Sherlock Holmes was produced by
Sheldon Reynolds in 1954, and starred
Ronald Howard as Holmes and
Howard Marion-Crawford as Doctor Watson, produced in Paris, France. In the 1960s, there was a
BBC TV series entitled
Sherlock Holmes with
Douglas Wilmer and
Nigel Stock.
Peter Cushing, who had earlier played the detective in the
Hammer version of
The Hound of the Baskervilles, later took over from Wilmer in the lead role. The 24-part series
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (1979–1980) starred
Geoffrey Whitehead as Holmes and
Donald Pickering as Watson. In 1982,
Granada Television aired an eight-part series entitled
Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House which told the story of Holmes' youth. The show starred
Guy Henry as Sherlock Holmes. Also in 1982, the BBC produced an
adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, starring
Tom Baker as the detective.
Jeremy Brett starred as Holmes in a
Granada Television adaptation screened from 1984 to 1994,
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with
David Burke and subsequently
Edward Hardwicke as Watson. All but 18 of the Conan Doyle stories were filmed before Brett's death from a heart attack in 1995. Between 1984 and 1994, 36 episodes and five films were produced over six series. Brett and Hardwicke reprised their roles as Holmes and Watson in 1988–89 in a West End stage play,
The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, written by Jeremy Paul. An animated series,
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, brings Holmes (voiced by
Jason Gray-Stanford) into the future through the marvels of science. There is also a Japanese animated series called
Sherlock Hound, featuring anthropomorphic canine characters with the titular character voiced by
Larry Moss in the English dub. Several of its episodes were directed by
Hayao Miyazaki. A second Japanese anime known as
Case File nº221: Kabukicho serves as modern re-telling of the stories set in Japan where Sherlock Holmes (voiced by
Katsuyuki Konishi) leads a team of detectives to solve a long string of serial murders committed by
Jack the Ripper. Another Japanese anime series called
Case Closed, based on the
manga of the same name, features a main character by the name of Conan who is heavily influenced by Sherlock Holmes. The children's television series
The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, which ran from 1996 to 1999, features a main young, modern-day female character (portrayed by
Meredith Henderson) who claims to be a distant descendant of Sherlock Holmes himself and has inherited his intellect in solving crimes. In 2007, the
BBC released
Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, a children's series focusing on the
Baker Street Irregulars and starring
Jonathan Pryce as Holmes. In 2009, the BBC began making
Sherlock, created by
Steven Moffat and
Mark Gatiss. Four seasons of three 90-minute episodes each were broadcast in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016, starring
Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and
Martin Freeman as John.
Moriarty appears as a recurring villain. A special episode, "
The Abominable Bride", was broadcast in January 2016, with a limited cinematic release worldwide. The fourth series aired January 1, 2017, with regards to it being potentially the final season – due to Cumberbatch and Freeman's busy schedules. The series also inspired a
manga published in Japan, translated and published in US and UK by
Titan Comics. In fall 2012,
CBS premiered the series
Elementary, a contemporary remake set in the United States, starring
Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes and
Lucy Liu as a female version of Watson. Sherlock Holmes has also been a prolific screen character in foreign language films, such as the Russian 2013 miniseries broadcast in November 2013.
Sherlok Kholms premiered in November 2013 on
Russia-1. The eight episodes were filmed in
Saint Petersburg, Russia, and starred
Igor Petrenko as Holmes and
Andrey Panin as Watson.
Miss Sherlock premiered in 2018 and starred
Yūko Takeuchi as Sara "Sherlock" Shelly Futaba and
Shihori Kanjiya as Dr. Wato. Set in
Tokyo, Japan, it is a co-production between
HBO Asia and
Hulu Japan. The
Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? episode "Elementary, My Dear Shaggy" has Mystery Inc. working with a man who claims to be Sherlock Holmes (voiced by
Ian James Corlett) when it came to the mystery involving the
screaming skulls. It was never confirmed in the episode if the man was the actual Sherlock Holmes or not. In 2022, it was announced that Aaron Kaplan's
Kapital Entertainment and former
Elementary writer
Craig Sweeny are developing
Watson for
CBS Studios. It is a medical drama series with detective elements, that focuses on Watson as the lead protagonist.
Morris Chestnut is an executive producer in the series, and also stars as the title character. A plot focuses on Watson who, a year after Holmes's death at Moriarty's hands, resumes his medical career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders.
Robert Carlyle portrays Holmes in a recurring capacity.
David Thewlis plays Holmes in the series
Sherlock & Daughter.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin starred in the
Prime Video series
Young Sherlock.
Television movies In the 1976 ''
The Return of the World's Greatest Detective'' policemen Sherman Holmes suffers from a blow to the head resulting in him thinking he is Sherlock Holmes. Also in 1976,
Sherlock Holmes in New York, Sherlock Holmes (
Roger Moore) and Dr. John Watson (
Patrick McNee) travel to
New York City to investigate a recent threat made by Professor Moriarty (
John Huston). During their investigation, Holmes and Watson are reunited with their old acquaintance
Irene Adler (
Charlotte Rampling), now a popular music-hall singer, who reveals that Moriarty has kidnapped her son. Moriarty has also left a note for Holmes informing him that he will be approached by the police soon for aid in a crime, and should he not refuse – Moriarty also informing him that he should provide no reason for his refusal – the boy will die. John Cleese starred as Holmes' grandson – Arthur Sherlock Holmes – in the comic TV special
The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977).
Arthur Lowe played Dr. William Watson, the original doctor's grandson. Between 1979 and 1986,
Soviet television produced a series of five television films for a performance ambassador
Anthony Brenton described as "one of the best I've ever seen". In 1983,
Ian Richardson portrayed Sherlock Holmes in
The Sign of Four with
David Healy as
Dr. John H. Watson. Later that same year, Richardson again played Holmes in a version of
The Hound of the Baskervilles with
Donald Churchill as his Watson. Also in 1983
Australian production company Burbank Films (later
Burbank Animation Studios) released a series of animated TV specials based on the four full-length novels, starring
Peter O'Toole as Holmes and
Earle Cross as Watson. The films were entitled , ,
Sherlock Holmes and the Baskerville Curse, and
Sherlock Holmes and the Valley of Fear. In 1986, a TV movie called
My Tenderly Loved Detective was made in Soviet Union about the adventures of the female Sherlock Holmes, called Shirley Holmes here, and female Dr.Watson, called Jane Watson here. The contemporarily-set 1987 television movie
The Return of Sherlock Holmes starred
Michael Pennington as the detective and
Margaret Colin as Dr. Watson's granddaughter, Jane. Jane, after following directions written by her grandfather years ago, finds out that she has thawed Holmes who had been
cryogenically frozen by Dr. Watson for 88 years due to
Bubonic plague. They become a team – the essential Victorian gentleman and a post-feminist young woman – to solve a case that combines elements of "The Sign of the Four" with elements from the celebrated news story of a plane hijacked for ransom by
D. B. Cooper.
Edward Woodward appeared as Holmes in the 1990 TV movie
Hands of a Murderer, alongside
John Hillerman as Watson, and
Anthony Andrews as Moriarty. The 1991–92 series
Sherlock Holmes the Golden Years consisted of two TV films, in which Sherlock Holmes (played again by
Christopher Lee) and Dr. Watson (played by
Patrick Macnee) are older adults who continue investigating cases. The two films were
Incident at Victoria Falls and
Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady. In 1991,
Charlton Heston played Holmes in the
Turner Network Television production of
Paul Giovanni's play
The Crucifer of Blood. In 1993, television movie titled
1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns and starring
Anthony Higgins as Holmes and
Debrah Farentino as Amy Winslow. Holmes is awakened from
suspended animation in the future following an
earthquake and must face off against the descendants of Moriarty. From 2000 to 2002,
Muse Entertainment Enterprises produced four television films for the
Hallmark Channel, starring
Matt Frewer as Holmes and
Kenneth Welsh as Dr Watson, in
The Hound of the Baskervilles (2000),
The Royal Scandal (2001),
The Sign of Four (2001) and
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002). 2002 saw a new version of
The Hound of the Baskervilles featuring
Richard Roxburgh.
Ian Hart played Dr. Watson then and also in the 2004
BBC airing of
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, alternatively billed as
The Return of Sherlock Holmes. An original screenplay "based on the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle", this film takes place in 1902, with Dr. Watson "saving a dear friend from narcotics and boredom", this friend being an opium-addicted and increasingly weak Sherlock Holmes.
Rupert Everett plays the Great Detective. 2002 also saw the
made for television cable movie,
Case of Evil, about a 20-something Sherlock Holmes (
James D'Arcy) and a Doctor Watson who worked as an early practitioner of autopsies, on the trail of Holmes'
archenemy,
Professor Moriarty (
Vincent D'Onofrio).
Episodes of unrelated series An adaptation of
The Speckled Band aired on the 1949 TV anthology series
Your Show Time, and starred
Alan Napier as Holmes and
Melville Cooper as Watson.
John Cleese played Holmes in a 1973 episode of "Comedy Playhouse":
Elementary My Dear Watson.
William Rushton played Watson. Also in 1988, in the animated series
BraveStarr, the two-part episode "Sherlock Holmes in the 23rd Century" had Holmes transported from
Reichenbach Falls in 1893, to
London in 2249, gaining the power to shoot electricity form his hands in the process. Holmes is joined by an alien, Dr. W't'sn (the 23rd century counterpart of Watson) and Inspector Mycroft Holmes of
Scotland Yard (a direct descendant and namesake of Holmes' brother Mycroft); the trio are recruited by the eponymous hero, Marshal BraveStarr, to investigate the hijackings of ore freighters. They discover Professor Moriarty is behind the hijackings and a nefarious plot to brainwash and enslave the population of Earth through hypnotism; after Holmes' presumed death in 1893, Moriarty built and used a stasis device to sleep until Holmes reappeared in 2249. Holmes and his friends foil Moriarty's plot, and Moriarty is arrested. The android
Lt. Commander Data (
Brent Spiner) from
Star Trek: The Next Generation had a personal interest of visiting the
holodeck and playing Sherlock Holmes with his friend
Geordi La Forge (
LeVar Burton) as
Dr John H. Watson, as can be seen in two episodes of the series: "
Elementary, Dear Data", and "
Ship in a Bottle". On these occasions, Data would replay and try to solve some of his favourite Holmes stories, or let the computer improvise a new mystery in the style of Doyle's stories. On most of these occasions, these exercises would result in a quick solution, since his android brain would immediately pick up all available clues, and his superior deductive skills would quickly solve the problem. Attempting to let the computer create a more difficult mystery for him however, resulted in the computer creating a holographic Professor James Moriarty which was imbued with a measure of consciousness, and who formed the basis for a story arc for said two episodes. The holographic Moriarty quickly caused problems when he realised he was a holodeck creation, and demanded a 'full' life, with the possibility to leave the holodeck. The children's television series
Wishbone featured Holmes and Watson in two episodes: "The Slobbery Hound" (based on
The Hound of the Baskervilles) and "A Dogged Exposé" (
A Scandal in Bohemia). Holmes and Watson appear in the
Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Trials of the Demon!", respectively voiced by
Ian Buchanan and
Jim Piddock. In the episode, Batman is transported back in time to help them and
Etrigan the Demon fight
Gentleman Ghost. ==Video games==