Sherlock Holmes has been around since 1887, with the first story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, introducing the world to the master detective. While Agatha Christie sold more novels, it is easy to see that Sherlock Holmes is more powerful than either of her star detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. That said, the Sherlock Holmes adaptations usually alternated between older TV shows and the newer Guy Ritchie movies, and the Benedict Cumberbatch BBC series. However, there have been several great adaptations that are often inspired by Sherlock Holmes rather than a direct retelling of Doyle’s old stories.
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Not including shows like House, which was based on Sherlock Holmes but isn’t technically a Holmes series, here are the seven best Sherlock Holmes TV adaptations based on the brilliant detective stories.
7) Watson (2025)
While House‘s Dr. Gregory House was based on the Sherlock Holmes character, it wasn’t technically a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. However, in 2025, a new medical drama arrived that is a Holmes adaptation in much the same way that House was, but with the doctor actually being John Watson.
This was the second CBS series to adapt Sherlock Holmes into an alternative format after Elementary, but this time it was Dr. Watson (played by Mark Chestnut) as an actual medical doctor working in a clinic one year after Holmes died while battling Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls in The Final Problem. However, an overarching story sees Watson learn Moriarty might still be alive. There were two seasons, and critics averaged a 53% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
6) Sherlock Holmes (1968)
The biggest thing to say about the BBC Sherlock Holmes series from the 1960s is that Peter Cushing starred in the series long before he took on his famous role in Star Wars. This was actually split up, with Douglas Wilmer starring as Sherlock Holmes from 1964 to 1965 and Peter Cushing as Holmes in 1968. Nigel Stock held things together as Dr. Watson between the two parts.
The series sees Sherlock Holmes taking cases for private clients, both from regular people and kings. Over 11 million people watched each episode, and it got higher when Cushing joined the cast. While good adaptations of some of the classic stories, and while Cushing was great, it wasn’t quite up to the level of later Sherlock Holmes direct adaptations.
5) The Irregulars (2021)
The Irregulars brought the Sherlock Holmes world to Netflix. This streaming series arrived around the same time as the Enola Holmes movies, and unlike the films, the series was popular but ended after one outing. This series follows a group of teenagers living on the streets in Victorian London who work for John Watson as he investigates supernatural crimes.
This also has a subplot where they are trying to find Sherlock Holmes, who had gone missing. There is only one season, but it at least reveals where Sherlock Holmes was at the end. This means that even though Netflix cancelled The Irregulars after only eight episodes, it still offered some closure. The Irregulars has a high 80% Rotten Tomatoes score.
4) Elementary (2012-2019)
Before CBS introduced a series with Dr. Watson as a doctor after Sherlock Holmes’ disappearance, the network had a very different adaptation of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. In Elementary, Jonny Lee Miller stars as Sherlock Holmes, while Lucy Liu is Dr. Joan Watson, his companion. The twist, other than gender-swapping Dr. Watson, is bringing the story to the present day.
Holmes is a former Scotland Yard consultant who entered drug rehab and is now living in New York City, where he helps the NYPD as a consulting detective. Ironically, with 154 episodes, Miller is now the actor who has portrayed Holmes more than anyone else by a long shot, as Eille Norwood previously held the record with 47 appearances in silent films. The first season was Certified Fresh, and the series’s full run has a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score.
3) Young Sherlock (2026)
Young Sherlock is the brand-new Sherlock Holmes adaptation that just debuted on Prime Video. The show was a quick hit when it debuted its first season, with an 84% Rotten Tomatoes score and an 84% from the audience as well. It was also an immediate hit on Prime Video, taking the number one spot for TV shows as soon as it hit the streamer.
The series stars Hero Fiennes Tiffin as 19-year-old Sherlock Holmes, an unruly youth who is not yet the master detective he would grow up to be. In this first season, he sets out on his first mystery, which actually leads to a global conspiracy. The entire series dropped at once on March 4, 2026, and it features eight episodes with high hopes that Prime Video will bring it back for a second season.
2) Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994)
In 1984, Granada Television brought a new Sherlock Holmes TV series to the world, and it was one of the best of all time for almost three decades. This series stars Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, while David Burke was Dr. Watson when the show started, but ended up being replaced by Edward Hardwicke for the rest of its run. The series was incredibly popular and only ended when the lead star, Jeremy Brett, died in 1995.
This was easily the most comprehensive of all Sherlock Holmes adaptations, whether on TV or in the movies. It actually adapted every single Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes story except for 19, of which 17 were short stories and only two were novels (A Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear). With 41 total episodes, five of them feature-length, this was the most faithful adaptation of the literary works and is the definitive Sherlock Holmes TV series.
1) Sherlock (2010-2017)
While the 1980s version is the definitive Sherlock Holmes series for fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brilliant detective, the best Sherlock Holmes series is, by far, Sherlock, from the BBC. This is not the most faithful to the books, nor the one that has the most stories. It is the series with the best production values, the best storytelling, the greatest acting, and the most interesting cases, and it never wore out its welcome.
Benedict Cumberbatch is Sherlock Holmes, while Martin Freeman is Dr. Watson, and while there were four seasons, it only featured 13 episodes, with each season consisting of select cases. They included some of Holme’s most famous cases, including A Study in Pink, The Final Problem, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and more. Sherlock won a Peabody Award in 2011, earned 47 BAFTA nominations (winning four), and 39 Primetime Emmy nominations (with nine wins).
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