Rebooting Sherlock

He's been depicted on screen nearly 300 times. Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective, holds the world record for the most portrayed literary human character in film & TV.

Since his creation in 1887, Sherlock Holmes has been played by over 75 actors. One recent reboot, 'Miss Sherlock' is set in modern day Tokyo and both lead characters are Japanese women. Another utterly forgettable iteration was the 1994 film 'Sherlock Bones' with the main character as a talking detective dog. 

A spokesperson from Guinness World Records commented, "Sherlock Holmes is a literary institution. This Guinness World Records title reflects his enduring appeal and demonstrates that his detective talents are as compelling today as they were 125 years ago."

Through a combination of films, television series, dramas and documentaries, Sherlock's appearances beat the character of Shakespeare's Hamlet by 48 portrayals to claim the record.

However, Sherlock is not the overall most portrayed literary character in film. That title belongs to the non-human vampire character Dracula, who has been portrayed in 272 films.

I wonder when we'll see a vampire version of Sherlock, with Watson the Werewolf.

▍Five Sherlock Facts:

1. The first Sherlock Holmes novel was a failure at the time when it was written.

It's called "A Study in Scarlet" (1887).

The novel was rejected by many publishers.

It was published in a magazine and was quite forgettable.

It was the second novel that made Sherlock popular.

2. Sherlock Holmes didn't wear THAT hat.

We think of Sherlock wearing that classic British hat, but in the books the hat is not mentioned.

When the stories were published in magazines around 1890, the artists who drew the pictures with the stories gave him that hat.

3. The author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle didn't just write Sherlock stories.

He wrote science fiction / adventure stories and his famous novel "The Lost World" is the story that inspired the Jurassic Park movies.

4. Sherlock used some detective techniques before real detectives did.

Fingerprints

Identifying blood stains

Sherlock used these techniques in the original stories before they were officially used by real detectives.

5. Sherlock has retired. In the original novels, the final story, we are told that Sherlock has retired and given up being a detective.

He moves to the countryside, lives on a small farm and keeps bees. He keeps bees and makes honey.