Sherlock: Book vs. Series

Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss's series Sherlock brings Arthur Conan Doyle's detective stories into modern London. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Holmes alongside Martin Freeman as Watson.

PollBook or TV show, which was better?
Do you recommend the book?
Do you recommend the TV show?
Your own listsKeep this adaptation on a list you make.
About the book and the TV show
Book
The Sherlock Holmes stories cover
Author
Arthur Conan Doyle
Year
1887
Pages
252Buy book
Audiobook length
5 hr 23 minGet audiobook
Narrator
David Ian Davies

From their rooms at 221B Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate cases that range from stolen possessions and blackmail to murder and threats to national security. Holmes searches for explanations in details others dismiss, while Watson records the clients, disguises, and dangers their work brings. The four novels and fifty-six short stories follow their partnership through Victorian and Edwardian Britain.

TV show
Sherlock poster
Creator
Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss
Writer
Mark Gatiss
Year
2010–2017
Episode
1 hr 30 minWatch on Amazon
Seasons
4
Episodes
13
Network
BBC One
Cast
Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Rupert Graves, Una Stubbs
Genre
crime, detective, drama
IMDb
View on IMDb

Back from military service in Afghanistan, John Watson needs somewhere to live and a reason to get out of bed. Sharing a London flat with Sherlock Holmes brings him into investigations involving baffling deaths, elaborate deceptions and criminals who relish a challenge. Sherlock's talent for deduction makes him useful to the police, but his appetite for danger increasingly reaches into their private lives.

Other adaptations of this book

  1. The Sherlock Holmes storiesSherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows · Movie · 2011
    Details
    Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows poster
    Director
    Guy Ritchie
    Writer
    Kieran Mulroney, Michele Mulroney
    Year
    2011
    Runtime
    2 hr 9 min
    Cast
    Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris

    A string of bombings and suspicious deaths convinces Sherlock Holmes that Professor Moriarty is preparing a much larger crime. The investigation interrupts Watson's wedding plans and takes the pair across Europe with Simza, a fortune-teller searching for her brother. Against an opponent who can anticipate his methods, Holmes must work out how seemingly disconnected attacks serve a common purpose.

  2. The Sherlock Holmes storiesElementary · TV show · 2012 · CBS
    Details
    Elementary poster
    Creator
    Robert Doherty
    Year
    2012–2019
    Episode
    42 min
    Seasons
    7
    Episodes
    154
    Network
    CBS
    Cast
    Jonny Lee Miller, Lucy Liu, Jon Michael Hill, Aidan Quinn

    After leaving rehab, Sherlock Holmes settles in New York, where his father hires former surgeon Joan Watson to supervise his recovery. Sherlock resumes detective work with the NYPD, pulling Joan into cases that demand more than keeping him sober. As she develops investigative skills of her own, their arrangement grows into a partnership tested by addiction, old enemies and the demands of the work.

Add a comment with your vote, optional
What people said

No comments yet. Vote, then say why.