Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed literary character in film and television history, and he effectively invented the detective story as a commercial form — the observant outsider, the loyal narrator-companion, the reconstruction of events from physical trivia. Arthur Conan Doyle came to resent him thoroughly, killed him off in 1893, and was pressured into resurrecting him a decade later by public demand and by money.
About Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed literary character in film and television history, and he effectively invented the detective story as a commercial form — the observant outsider, the loyal narrator-companion, the reconstruction of events from physical trivia. Arthur Conan Doyle came to resent him thoroughly, killed him off in 1893, and was pressured into resurrecting him a decade later by public demand and by money. What keeps the character reproducible is that the method is portable: the stories can be relocated to any era and any city and still work, which is why adaptations range from Victorian pastiche to contemporary London to animated mice.
Conan Doyle killed the character in 1893 and was pressured into bringing him back a decade later.
Rights holder: Largely public domain; the Conan Doyle Estate retains limited claims. CharacterTshirts.com is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with, authorized by, endorsed by, or connected to any character rights holder, publisher, studio or network named on this site. All character names and titles are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to identify the products described.
Key eras
| Era | Years | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Conan Doyle | 1887–1927 | Four novels and fifty-six short stories, with a ten-year gap after the character's death. |
| Screen canon | 1939–1985 | Basil Rathbone, then Jeremy Brett's much-praised Granada series. |
| Modern | 2009– | Guy Ritchie's films and the BBC's contemporary-set Sherlock. |