Doyle's Classic Holmes vs. BBC's Sherlock. Who is the Bigger Freak?

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Trier, language: English, abstract: ¿Well, Watson, what do you make of it?¿ (Doyle 1) ¿ Or rather: What did, and does, the media make of Arthur Conan Doyle¿s crime-solving character Sherlock Holmes? Without a doubt, Sherlock Holmes is one of the most famous literary figures, if not the most famous, at least in the genre of crime fiction.

Holmes had his first appearance in 1887 in A Study in Scarlett, which was published in Beeton¿s Christmas Annual. In this story, he is introduced as the world¿s first and only ¿consulting detective¿. In other words: Sherlock Holmes starts investigating when the police fail in solving the crime. (Wilson) Since his introduction he has had other appearances in numerous stories of Doyle, countless pastiches and he has literally taken over the media landscape.

Among these appearances in the media, there are two TV shows contrasting from all the other Holmes adaptations. On the one hand, there is Elementary. It is set in New York and the American actress Lucy Liu plays Holmes¿s assistant and friend, Dr Watson. Jonny Lee Miller plays Holmes. On the other Hand, there is the British series Sherlock. It is set in London and the role of Watson is portrayed by male actor Martin Freeman, which means that Sherlock is more oriented towards the original stories. However, both series have something in common: They transfer Doyle¿s stories, which are set in Victorian and Edwardian times, into the present age.

In this paper, I want to compare the classic character Sherlock Holmes, as he appears in Doyle¿s stories and Novels, with the main character Sherlock Holmes of BBC¿s TV series Sherlock. The literary basis for my analysis will be the novel the Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and of course the TV series Sherlock. The first part of this paper will consist of a characterisation of the classic Sherlock Holmes. The second part will be an analysis of the main character of Sherlock. In the course of this paper, I want to provide the answer to the question: Who is the bigger freak, if any of them is one at all?