Picking a favourite Sherlock Holmes might seem elementary, but, when you consider just how many fantastic actors have donned the deerstalker over the years, you’re faced with a conundrum fiendish enough to daunt the master detective himself. Rathbone, Cumberbatch, Brett, Plummer…it was never going to be straightforward, was it?
So, in the spirit of the great man himself, we’ll scrutinise the evidence, draw the complex threads together, and present a solution: our very own ranking of the Sherlocks. As with all mysteries, there’s a twist. Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson aren’t merely a detective duo; they’re the detective duo. That means the good doctor, where he appears, will be a crucial part of the puzzle.
A word of warning to the armchair sleuths: we’ll be eliminating from our enquiries all but the notable English-language screen Holmes. Not only that, but the many pastiches and loose reworkings of the character have had to go. This means no George C. Scott as a man who would be Holmes in the wonderful They Might Be Giants; goodbye to Michael Caine in Without A Clue; and a fond farewell to Hayao Miyazaki’s animated Sherlock Hound. I know, that last one hurt.
Come, Watson – the game’s afoot…
12. Henry Cavill in Enola Holmes (2020) and Enola Holmes 2 (2022)
Too handsome for Holmes? That was the criticism levelled at Henry Cavill when he played the great detective opposite Sam Claflin as Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft, and Millie Bobby Brown as their non-canonical younger sister, the spirited Enola. She is, of course, the true lead of Netflix’s film series, based on Nancy Springer’s series of YA novels. With Cavill’s Holmes as a secondary character in these original mysteries, doomed to be outwitted by his plucky sibling, this take on the character was never going to satisfy purists. Still, there’s fun to be had in the series’ fast-paced, feminist spin on Victorian England.
11. Christopher Lee in Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes (1962), Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991), and Incident at Victoria Falls (1992)
The late, great Christopher Lee never did anything by halves. No surprise, then, that playing just one character from Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories wasn’t sufficient. He also popped up as Sir Henry Baskerville opposite the Peter Cushing Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) and as brother Mycroft in Billy Wilder’s leftfield The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). Tall, saturnine and commanding, Lee was a good physical fit for the role and well-matched by Patrick Macnee‘s bumbling Watson in his two later films as Sherlock (the trusty sidekick was initially played by Thorley Walters). Points deducted for the convoluted plots and, in the first outing, some pretty unforgivable dubbing; yep, there’s a reason the title’s in German…
10. Ian McKellen in Mr Holmes (2015)
We all know Ian McKellen can do gravitas, wisdom and wit – his attempt at the fictional detective was always going to be something different and special. Heavily made up to reflect his character’s advanced age, McKellen embodies a 93-year-old Holmes: long retired, keeping bees in the countryside, and dreading dementia’s impact on that rapier-sharp mind. Bill Condon’s film version of Jeffrey Cullin’s novel, A Slight Trick of the Mind, incorporates flashbacks to Holmes’s glory days as he struggles to recall the resolution of a mystery where, unusually, his emotions were engaged. Watson’s written record of the case only blurs the picture further. More of a meditation on old age and death – but maybe life itself is his greatest mystery, after all.
9. Peter Cushing in Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Sherlock Holmes (1968), and The Masks of Death (1984)
Another of the big names to inhabit 221B Baker Street, Peter Cushing played Holmes in no fewer than three different versions: Hammer’s 1959 Hound of the Baskervilles; in the second series of the BBC’s 1960s adaptation of Doyle’s stories, replacing the excellent Douglas Wilmer; and, finally, as the retired detective in the 1984 TV movie, The Masks of Death. With a fine set of Watsons in each outing (André Morell, Nigel Stock and John Mills respectively), Cushing couldn’t go too far wrong…and he even got to play Doyle himself in the 1976 TV movie, The Great Houdini, opposite Paul Michael Glaser as the fabled magician of the title.
8. Ian Richardson in The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four (1983)
Examine this ranking closely enough, and a pattern emerges; certain actors seem to be drawn to play multiple characters in Holmes lore, from supporting figures in the stories to real-life inspirations for the master detective. The magnificent Ian Richardson, star of the original BBC political thriller House of Cards, is another example. Richardson gave us a witty, warm Holmes in two 1983 TV adaptations of classic Doyle stories, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four. He then went on to portray Dr Joseph Bell, the surgeon who trained a young Doyle, and whose meticulous eye for deductive detail inspired Sherlock Holmes, in the excellent BBC miniseries, Murder Rooms.
7. Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes (2009) and A Game of Shadows (2011)
Lock, stock, and two smoking, er…pipes? Guy Ritchie’s version of Doyle’s creation ruffled quite a few feathers with its kinetic energy, propulsive music and, in Robert Downey Jr.’s louchely appealing Sherlock, a fresh and memorable stamp on a familiar character. RDJ’s easy chemistry with Jude Law’s sharp-witted, elegant Watson is a big draw, along with his poignant connection with Rachel McAdams’ Irene Adler and some fine villainy from Mark Strong and Jared Harris. A belated third film – this time helmed by Dexter Fletcher – is expected later this year. Will RDJ rise further up the rankings with an older, wiser Holmes? We’re looking forward to finding out.
6. Christopher Plummer in Silver Blaze (1977) and Murder by Decree (1979)
Christopher Plummer played Holmes in the 1977 Canadian TV movie, Silver Blaze, an adaptation of a Doyle short story. He’s better known, however, for his second case: Bob Clark’s 1979 original, Murder by Decree. Opposite the peerless James Mason as Watson, Plummer’s Holmes delves into the enduring real-life mystery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity as the killer brings carnage to 1880s Whitechapel. His conclusions align with Alan Moore’s in From Hell: skulduggery in high places, and the sickening slaughter of vulnerable women whose only crime was knowing too much. Many screen Sherlocks dial up the condescension; Plummer finds the source of Holmes’s empathy and deep sense of justice. It’s an atmospheric mystery, with righteous outrage at its heart.
5. Nicholas Rowe in Young Sherlock Holmes (1986)
Mature and melancholy takes on the great detective aren’t uncommon, as we’ve seen, but there’s only one young Sherlock Holmes. (Not for long, mind you; Guy Ritchie’s having another crack at the character with a Young Sherlock miniseries for Prime Video later this year.) Barry Levinson’s 1986 film stars the marvellous Nicholas Rowe as a teenage Holmes accompanied by Alan Cox as an equally plausible young Watson. Here, the pair meet at boarding school and investigate a case that ends in heartbreak for the budding sleuth. Former Watson Nigel Stock turns up in a key role, while the film takes its place in cinema history for the appearance of the first fully computer-generated character. Watch out for a lovely nod to the movie in an earlier item on this list, too: Rowe made an appearance in Ian McKellen’s Mr Holmes as a silent-film version of the detective, two decades after his first appearance as the character.
4. Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock (2010-2017)
Why is Cumberbatch’s Holmes so (comparatively) low on this list, you might ask? Well, he wouldn’t have been in 2010, as you’ll gather if you read any of my glowing appraisals from way back when on this very website… If we just breeze past that last of the four series, beset by all its attendant controversies, there’s still loads to enjoy: the rapport between this most condescending – yet oddly endearing – of Sherlocks and his loyal Watson (Martin Freeman), the most memorable of Mrs Hudsons (Una Stubbs), a hugely likeable Lestrade (Rupert Graves) and some deliciously convoluted mysteries in a modern London that Cumberbatch’s Holmes jars with pleasingly. Will it ever return? Over to you, Moffat and Gatiss…
3. Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary (2012-2019)
The 2010s gave us two contemporary takes on Holmes, with just a little bit of competitive jostling for position. Funnily enough, the world turned out to be big enough for more than one modern-day Sherlock. CBS’s Elementary was always a hair’s breadth from true greatness, hindered by its procedural structure. When it shone, though, we benefited from one of the finest interpretations of the character to date. Jonny Lee Miller captured Sherlock’s soul – the genius, the demons, the fundamental goodness of the man – and added magic of his own. Alongside a female Watson who matched him for intelligence (Lucy Liu, cool and supremely capable), this Holmes was surrounded by a fine supporting cast including Natalie Dormer as a particularly devastating Moriarty, John Noble as Holmes père and Rhys Ifans as Mycroft. Laden with satisfyingly deep allusions to Holmes lore – Ophelia Lovibond’s troubled Kitty Winter, lifted from Doyle’s ‘The Case of the Illustrious Client’, is a particular standout – it’s a show well worth investigating.
2. Jeremy Brett in Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994)
Jeremy Brett had actually played Dr Watson in a stage production of The Crucifer of Blood when he took up the role of the world’s number-one – well, its only, but let’s not split hairs – consulting detective. For many Holmes aficionados, he’d top this list. Over ten years, Granada Television adapted 43 of Doyle’s 60 stories to memorable effect. David Burke was replaced by Edward Hardwicke as Watson after the first series, and the Brett/Hardwicke pairing is one of the first to spring to mind when we imagine the inseparable duo. Brett’s impassioned, intense Holmes is at the heart of these polished mysteries, while Hardwicke took Watson back to the efficient man of action we meet in Doyle’s stories. That last point is emblematic of the authenticity that marks this particular adaptation, and which is deeply appreciated by so many fans. In terms of the top spot, Brett’s Holmes only has one true rival…
1. Basil Rathbone in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943), Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943), Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943), The Spider Woman (1944), The Scarlet Claw (1944), The Pearl of Death (1944), The House of Fear (1945), The Woman in Green (1945), Pursuit to Algiers (1945), Terror by Night (1946), and Dressed to Kill (1946)
Basil Rathbone’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes got off to an inauspicious start when 20th Century Fox dropped the series after two films. Luckily for Holmesians everywhere, Universal picked up where they left off, putting out an impressive 12 movies between 1942 and 1946. In a bold move, Universal transplanted this Holmes from the usual gas-lit ambience of his nineteenth-century origins – as seen in Rathbone’s first two films – and shifted the setting to what was then the present day: the war-torn 1940s. Rathbone had unsuccessfully volunteered to fight in World War Two when conflict broke out in 1939. In the end, he got the chance to do his bit for his country by another route. His Holmes fought the Gestapo, searched for a missing secret agent in Washington and solved other cases loosely adapted from Doyle’s short stories. Rathbone’s look was that of the Holmes immortalised by Sidney Paget in his illustrations for The Strand magazine, in which Doyle’s stories had first appeared; with Nigel Bruce’s loveably silly Watson by his side and tales shrouded in sinister atmosphere, the actor made an indelible impression. As long as Sherlock Holmes is remembered, Rathbone’s evocation of the character will remain the one to beat. And that, my dear Watson, will be forever.
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