Sherlock Holmes is a private detective that everyone in the UK will have heard of in some way, shape or form; and potentially quite a few people around the world would have heard of him too. He was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and was seen to specialise in observation, forensic science and logical reasoning when he was working on cases for organisations such as the Scotland Yard. Over time, Sherlock Holmes became more and more famous and he was even entered into the Guinness World Records as the most portrayed movie character in history.
Over the years Holmes certainly became more popular and the name became more recognisable, especially in Britain where he is widely considered as a British cultural icon, thanks to the success and interest in his writing. In total there was four Sherlock Holmes novels produced as well as 56 short stories, and they were often narrated by Dr Watson; who was sort of a sidekick to Holmes as well as a friend, accompanying him on investigations and living with him at the now famous address of 221B Baker Street in London. If you go to this address now you’ll find the Sherlock Holmes Museum, so it’s easy to see just how famous the fictional detective still is today.
The success of Sherlock Holmes is immeasurable because the character himself, Dr Watson and the stories have had a huge impact in many other areas too. For over a century Holmes has inspired literally thousands of other original stories from a wide range of different authors. It wasn’t just in writing where Sherlock Holmes was used as inspiration in the creating of many stage plays, radio plays, television series’, films and even video games. You could say that his legacy lives on through these various media forms and continues to keep the character alive today.
Taking games as an example, Holmes influenced the industry in many different ways, meaning there was always something for everyone. There was a great Sherlock Holmes board game for example called 221b Baker Street Detective Game, as well as over 15 video games; which even includes a title for the PS4 that was only released 2 years ago and we have even seen a Sherlock Holmes slot game developed too. The slot game, Holmes and the Stolen Stones, has been a huge success with established online casino operators such as Unibet and their players.
Just recently we saw the release of Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Fleet Street Transparency released, where audiences are able to download the story and listen to another adventure about the fictional detective and his assistant Dr Watson. Fans were quick to listen to the latest instalment of the Big Finish Holmes stories and it’s already proving to be well received by critics too.
There is literally something for everyone when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. Even if somebody is new to the character, they are quickly able to get up to speed by watching one of the many movies, playing a video game or by reading one of the novels or short stories based on the fictional detective. Sherlock Holmes will continue to live on through these various different forms of media and with more planned he will certainly remain an icon for many years to come.