Sherlock is a British television crime drama that presents a contemporary adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, it stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson. Nine episodes have been produced, the first three of which aired in 2010. Series two aired in 2012, and a third series started to air in 2014. A fourth series was confirmed by Cumberbatch. The series has been sold to over 200 territories.[1]
The show was conceived by Moffat and Gatiss during train journeys to and from the Doctor Who production base in Cardiff, where they were both writers. They aspired to produce a modern-day version of Conan Doyle's stories in which Sherlock uses the technologies that are available to him today in order to help him solve crimes. Credited as co-creators, Moffat and Gatiss each write one episode per series, with the other written by Stephen Thompson. Hartswood Films produced the series for the BBC and co-produced it with WGBH Boston for its Masterpiece anthology series. The series is primarily filmed in Cardiff, although the production also uses a variety of other locations. North Gower Street in London was used for exterior shots of Holmes and Watson's 221B Baker Street residence.
Sherlock depicts "consulting detective" Holmes, assisting the Metropolitan Police Service, primarily Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade (Rupert Graves), in solving various crimes. Holmes is assisted by his flatmate, Dr John Watson, who has returned from military service in Afghanistan. Although the series depicts a variety of crimes and perpetrators, Holmes' conflict with his archnemesis Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) is a recurring feature. Pathologist Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) assists Holmes in her laboratory. Other recurring roles include Una Stubbs as Mrs. Hudson, Holmes and Watson's landlady; and co-creator Mark Gatiss as Sherlock's brother, Mycroft Holmes.
After an unaired pilot in 2009, the first series of three 90-minute episodes was transmitted on BBC One and BBC HD in 2010, with a second series of three episodes first broadcast in 2012. Critical reception was extremely positive, with many reviews commending the quality of the writing, performances and direction. Sherlock has been nominated for numerous awards, including BAFTAs and Emmys, winning several across a variety of categories. The first two series have been released on DVD and Blu-ray, alongside tie-in editions of some of Conan Doyle's original books. Soundtrack albums from series one and two have also been release

Main article: List of Sherlock episodes
Three series, each consisting of three episodes, have been produced. The first series was initially broadcast in July and August 2010 on the BBC, later premiering on co-funders Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States in October 2010.[44] A second series of three episodes was first broadcast in the UK in January 2012, and then in the U.S. during May 2012.[45] A third series is due to air in 2014. The series has been sold to over 200 territories.[46]
Series 1 (2010)
The first episode, "A Study in Pink", loosely based upon the first Sherlock Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet, was written by Moffat and directed by Paul McGuigan. The story depicts the introduction of Holmes to Watson, and them entering a flatshare at Baker Street in London, and then their investigation into a series of deaths, initially believed to be suicides. The episode was first broadcast simultaneously on BBC One and BBC HD on 25 July 2010.[47][48]
The second episode, "The Blind Banker", was first broadcast on 1 August 2010. Written by Stephen Thompson and directed by Euros Lyn, the episode depicts Holmes being hired by an old friend to investigate a mysterious break-in at a bank in the City.[49]
The first series concluded with "The Great Game", which was first broadcast on 8 August 2010. The episode introduces the character of Jim Moriarty to the series (Andrew Scott), who sets Holmes deadlines to solve a series of apparently unrelated cases. Written by Mark Gatiss and directed by McGuigan, "The Great Game" ends in a cliffhanger in which Sherlock and Moriarty reach a standoff involving a bomb removed moments earlier from Watson.[50]
Series 2 (2012)
After the high ratings for "A Study in Pink", the BBC were reportedly eager to produce more episodes.[51] On 10 August 2010, it was confirmed that Sherlock had been renewed for a second series.[18] At the 2011 convention, Gatiss confirmed which stories would be adapted, and that the writers of the first series would each write an episode for series two.[52] Acknowledging that "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Final Problem" are amongst the best-known Holmes stories, Gatiss explained, "We knew after having a successful first run that the natural order would be to do three of the most famous [stories]."[52] "There's the question of how to go out on a cliffhanger and then the thematic things of the three stories, where we were trying to get to and what Sherlock and John's relationship is a little further on. You can't just go back to: 'You have no emotions.' 'I don't care.' You've got to move on somewhere and make sure the other characters have something of a journey too."[52] Paul McGuigan directed the first two episodes,[53] and Doctor Who director Toby Haynes handled the last one.[54] The second series of three 90-minute episodes was initially planned to air in late 2011,[55] but was delayed until early January 2012.
"A Scandal in Belgravia", written by Steven Moffat and directed by Paul McGuigan, was first broadcast on 1 January 2012. Loosely based on "A Scandal in Bohemia", the episode depicts Holmes's quest to retrieve compromising photos of a minor royal held on the camera phone of Irene Adler (Lara Pulver), a ruthless and brilliant dominatrix who also trades in classified information extracted from her rich and powerful clients.[56]
Mark Gatiss wrote "The Hounds of Baskerville", which investigates the strange activities at a military base. Aware that The Hound of the Baskervilles, first published in 1902, was one of the most famous of Conan Doyle's original stories, Gatiss felt a greater responsibility to include familiar elements of the story than he does when adapting the lesser-known stories.[57][58] Russell Tovey appeared as Henry Knight, a man whose father was ripped apart by a gigantic hound on Dartmoor twenty years earlier. Directed by McGuigan, the episode was first broadcast on 8 January 2012.[59]


The resolution of Sherlock's faked suicide from the roof of St Bartholomew's Hospital in London attracted speculation in social media and newspapers.
The second series concluded with "The Reichenbach Fall". Steve Thompson wrote the episode, which was directed by Toby Haynes, who had previously directed many of Moffat's Doctor Who episodes. First broadcast on 15 January 2012, the episode follows Moriarty's plot to discredit and kill Sherlock Holmes, concluding with Holmes faking his suicide as Watson looked on.[60] It was based upon Conan Doyle's story "The Final Problem", in which Sherlock and Moriarty are presumed to have fallen to their deaths from the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. Moffat felt that he and co-creator Gatiss had outdone Conan Doyle in their version of Holmes' fall and Moffat added that, in that much-discussed sequence, there was still "a clue everybody's missed".[61]
Christmas mini-episode (2013)[edit]
BBC One premiered a "Sherlock" mini-episode over the 2013 Christmas period entitled "Many Happy Returns". The episode is available via its online and interactive television services and acts as a prequel to the upcoming third series.
The synopsis for the episode reads "Sherlock has been gone for two years. But someone isn't quite convinced that he's dead."[62] The 'someone' turns out to be Anderson, the forensics technician from series 1 and 2. He had a long standing mistrust of Sherlock, yet is now one of the few people who believe Sherlock is alive, and is tracking him via various mysterious events from New Delhi to Germany in which he seems to be involved; incidents which are getting progressively closer to London.
Series 3 (2014)
After the end of the final episode of the second series, Moffat and Gatiss both announced on Twitter that a third series had been commissioned at the same time as series two,[63] and a part of the resolution to "The Reichenbach Fall" was filmed concurrently with series two.[60] Gatiss confirmed that he would write the first episode of the third series, and that it would be "loosely based" on "The Adventure of the Empty House", in which Conan Doyle revealed that Holmes had faked his death.[64] Gatiss wanted to have Watson react very differently from the original character at the discovery of Holmes's return in series three; "I always found it a little unlikely that Dr Watson's only reaction was to faint for instance—as opposed to possibly a stream of terrible swear words", he said.[65]
Moffat tackles the fact that eventually Watson will be living apart from Holmes, though he was at first uncertain whether he will have Watson get married in this adaptation.[17] Moffat also wanted to use other villains and adversaries from Conan Doyle's original stories. Without revealing whether Moriarty also faked his own death at the end of series two, Moffat has suggested that Moriarty will not feature heavily in future series of Sherlock.[66][67]
Moffat and Gatiss have announced three words that allude to the content of the third series. These words were, "rat, wedding, bow". Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in August 2012, Moffat said that these words "may be misleading, are not titles, are only teases or possibly clues, but might be deliberately designed to get you into a lather".[68] The titles of the episodes were later revealed as "The Empty Hearse",[69] written by Gatiss, "The Sign of Three",[70] written by Thompson, and "His Last Vow", written by Moffat.[71][72] On 29 July 2013, producer Sue Vertue announced via her Twitter page that Lars Mikkelsen would appear in series 3 as the villain Charles Augustus Magnussen.[73]
Production was originally set to begin in January 2013,[71] but the availability of Cumberbatch and Freeman dictated that the series would begin shooting on 18 March.[74] On 23 May, production finished on the second episode.[75]
On 1 September 2013, the principal photography of the third series had been completed.[76] On 29 November, the BBC announced the UK release date of series three to be 1 January 2014 and was unveiled by a hearse that drove through London, displaying the date of the premiere. This relates to the first episode of the third series, "The Empty Hearse". It will be broadcast in the United States on PBS over two weeks later, on 19 January.[77][78][79]
Series 4[edit]
Series 4 was confirmed by actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.[80]