Sherlock Holmes (BBC series)

"I'm a consulting detective. The only one in the world. I invented the job." "What does that mean?" "It means when the police are out of their depth, which is always, they consult me."

- Sherlock explains his job to John Watson William Sherlock Scott Holmes (known simply as Sherlock Holmes) is the main protagonist of the BBC crime drama series Sherlock, a modernized take on the classic series of detective novels by Arthur Conan Doyle. He is the world's only consulting detective, a profession he created for himself and the younger brother of Mycroft Holmes. He is based in London and often consulted by Greg Lestrade of New Scotland Yard, often taking his best friend and former flatmate, John Watson, on cases.

He is portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch.

About
Sherlock has a keen interest in unusual or bizarre crimes, without which he rapidly becomes bored, relying on nicotine to keep his brain active, although in the past he has dabbled in illegal drugs for entertainment, such as cocaine. Sherlock is a thinker and an observer; his notable ability to notice and draw deductions from seemingly trivial details is incredible and that is his main tool for solving crimes he investigates. He also often utilises his "mind palace", a tool for remembering the smallest of details and organising his memories in a visual way. However, his unusual and somewhat anti-social personality has led to many in the official police force distrusting and disliking him. Sherlock claims on more than one occasion to be a "high-functioning sociopath". However, according to Jim Moriarty, as well as Sherlock's own actions and displays of emotion and empathy, this may not be true. Sherlock does not seem to exhibit any of the symptoms of an anti-social personality disorder. John mentions once, in order to excuse Sherlock's behaviour, that he suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, a disorder related to autism.

Personality
Sherlock has a profound aptitude for deductive reasoning. Upon meeting a person, he will often "scan" them, using elements of their appearance to arrive at astonishingly accurate conclusions about their past or personality. John Watson, his flatmate, while initially impressed by this skill, sometimes shows exasperation at this and berates him for showing off. However, Sherlock is not infallible as he admits "there is always something" that he misses or misinterprets (the first time he said this, the thing he missed was that Harry was short for Harriet, as he originally though that Harry was John Watson's brother; in fact, she is his sister).[2]

Sherlock uses a memory retrieval technique called the "method of loci". He refers to this system as his "mind palace".[4] John explains this technique as the storing of memories by plotting them on a map of a familiar location, and retrieving those memories by finding the way back to them, so as to theoretically never forget anything. To use this skill, Sherlock requires silence and space to himself to reduce outside interference

Sherlock shows skill in unarmed and armed combat. In reference to his Conan Doyle counterpart, the rules of the combat discipline Baritsu hang over his bed. He can use deductive reasoning to identify weaknesses of his opponents before he strikes them. He demonstrates his prowess in bringing down an assassin with one blow, successfully disarming an American operative with a gun, and fighting off a group of terrorists with a sword.[5]However, he lost in a fight to John, but that was also because he was taken surprise and John was angry at the time.

Sherlock has a manipulative streak, and in multiple instances has used this ability to his advantage. He uses his knowledge of people and their weaknesses to his advantage, such as flattering Molly, who has a crush on him, in order to let him see some bodies that she normally would not have the authority to take out.[6] When he sees that his argument is a losing battle, he suddenly pauses and notices aloud that she changed her hair, saying, "it suits you better this way", which placates Molly enough to break the rules for him. In another situation, he needs to test out a drug and sneaks it into John's coffee. When John tries to say "I don't take sugar" Sherlock effectively uses the "kicked puppy" look to guilt John into finishing the drink.[4]

There are moments when Sherlock does not seem to realise that he occasionally upsets people with his accurate deductions about their personal lives, most often delivered quite tactlessly. When he pointed out to Molly that her boyfriend Jim (Moriarty) was gay (a disguise) he seemed surprised when she ran away upset, stating that he had just been saving her time, thinking it was kinder than letting her find out the hard way. Later, he apologised for embarrassing Molly after deducing that she was dressed up for a man she liked, only to discover said man was himself (he also kissed her on the cheek – most likely an extension of the apology). Although most times Sherlock seems inhuman and cold, he does know how to appreciate or acknowledge. For instance, although he retorted to John that he did not care about astronomy, he later comments on the beauty of the night sky when investigating the whereabouts of the Golem.

His sense of humour is almost normal and very sarcastic. Sherlock seems to find having to run away from pursuers, ridiculous situations and the stupidity of others amusing. He often makes quips at the expense of his brother, Mycroft, often remarking something similar to "Try not to start a war before I get home; you know what it does for traffic", or John's question about meeting the Queen just as Mycroft enters, "Apparently yes". He dislikes the titles John gives the cases on his blog, finding "The Geek Interpreter" and "The Speckled Blonde" to be ridiculous.

The most noticeable of his traits is the fact he is constantly bored by the lack of a case; he finds peace and quiet to be hateful. He has shot the wall of his flat repeatedly just to ease his boredom. Even if he is offered a case, he will not leave unless he rates it a seven out of ten, or finds it interesting.[5] While suffering from a lack of nicotine, he will even go for a missing pet case, to the point that he will even drag Lestrade into his moment of insanity.

In the first two series, Sherlock displayed textbook antagonism towards individuals such as Anderson and Sally Donovan, which is often relayed with a cutting remark from the latter. Although Anderson eventually comes to admire Sherlock, as of Series Three, beforehand they shared a tenaciously antagonistic relationship. This is possibly because whenever Anderson or Donovan tries to solve a case, Sherlock always steals the show.

Although he seems to be a cold-hearted intellectual, Sherlock does have a kind, caring side, and although barely shown, it wins over many people. For example, when John's girlfriend Sarah was kidnapped by Chinese smugglers, Sherlock focused on saving her rather than catching the smugglers themselves, and comforted her gently while untying her, even though he had not seemed to like her much previously. This ability extends to being able to comfortingly and successfully dissuading a man who was trying to commit suicide.[4]

He is also very protective of those he cares about; when he deduces that an American operative punched the defenceless Mrs Hudson, Sherlock ties him up and throws him out of the window (several times; so many he lost count) – "An American attacked Mrs Hudson; I'm restoring balance to the universe." He also says that if Mrs Hudson was to leave, "England would fall".[5] This shows he does not take her for granted as is often thought, and does in fact care deeply for her. However, he does seem to manipulate her into doing housekeeping despite her repeated protests. In the case of John, he could be considered even more protective, though he does drag John into many dangerous situations.

John and Sherlock share a very unique relationship. Sherlock, clearly, cannot be considered a man with many friends. His attitude and cutting words often ward people away, but with John he makes an effort, and when upsetting him, apologises.[4] John is intelligent, though not as intelligent as Sherlock, lacking Holmes' observational skills and his unique insight into crime. John however does have great insight in his analysis of relationships, which Sherlock may dismiss – especially between Sherlock and Irene Adler. He pipes up that Sherlock and Irene might be "looking for baby names". He protects Sherlock as much as he can.[6][7]

Sherlock does generally appear to appreciate John's risks, and confesses to John that he "doesn't have friends, just one". He never denies it when people assume incorrectly that they are romantic partners.

Over the course of their friendship, Sherlock becomes more caring about John and develops a slight sense of humour. He became very worried when he rescued John from a bonfire. When he and John were going to die in a bomb-rigged train, he tearfully pleaded with John to forgive for him the pain he caused him by faking his death, and was touched when he granted it, and roared with laughter when he revealed he had switched the bomb off. At John's wedding, Sherlock gave a very long and touching best man's speech about their past cases, how much he valued John's friendship, how proud he was to be John's best man, and good he wanted to do it (although he went into shock when John first told him). He also stated that he would never hurt John on his wedding day. He also seemed extremely reluctant to hurt John when he found out about his wife and joked with him before leaving for Switzerland and then returning.

Sherlock shares a somewhat complex relationship with his older brother, Mycroft Holmes. Mycroft does seem to worry a great deal about Sherlock, often rallying his younger brother's friends in order to ensure his safety (specifically to prevent an implied relapse) and comforting Sherlock when they thought Irene Adler had died. While he does show, at times, childlike frustration with his elder brother, Sherlock never dismisses him as he does with clients or police officers he finds truly annoying or tedious. Mycroft also seems comfortable with the idea of going to Sherlock for help with issues of national security, showing once again an innate sense of trust in his younger sibling.

Irene Adler deduces that he believes in a higher power which is himself, an assertion that Sherlock neither confirmed or denied.

Sherlock runs his own website, The Science of Deduction.