Elementary, my dear reader

He’s 126 years old, famed throughout the world and is still one of the most beloved and engaging characters ever to investigate a crime. Sherlock Holmes has outlived not only his creator but also some of the people who have portrayed him on TV and in films. What is it about Sherlock Holmes that still fascinates modern readers and viewers?

As I write, Sherlock Holmes features in two TV series, one on either side of the Atlantic as well as a series of pretty awful movies directed by Guy Ritchie. (Holmes as an action hero, not a good idea.) Jonny Lee Miller stars in Elementary and Benedict Cumberbatch is the lead in the BBC’s excellent Sherlock. Both series bring Sherlock and Dr Watson into the 21st century with consummate skill. The American version departs from Conan Doyle’s stories to set Holmes up as a modern TV detective albeit one with a soaring intellect, real drugs problem and a friend called Joan Watson. Lucy Liu plays the female sidekick and it works really well. Steven Moffat who writes the UK version used the original material as a starting point to reimagine the stories for the modern era. Both TV shows are excellent and capture the spirit of those original novels and their characters.

There are other TV characters with similar traits to Holmes that have a devoted following. Gregory House is a rude, abrupt and brilliant doctor, who the creators admit is completely influenced by Holmes. Patrick Jane in The Mentalist is a consulting detective with the ability to read people from apparently trivial information. Would they be as popular without the Holmes influences at their heart?

It’s not only on screen that Holmes is captivating people once again. Anthony Horowitz has written a brand new Holmes novel called The House of Silk. It is a brilliantly authentic tale but with very modern concerns at the heart of it. If you are a lover of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories you will love The House Of Silk.

So with all this focus on the great detective, why do we still find him so interesting? His brusque manner, lack of social graces and general intellectual superiority are not qualities we would appreciate in a real person but I believe those are the very things that attract us to him. We all wish that we could be as insightful and brilliant as Holmes when he reads a person’s life from a few clues. If we were so intelligent, would we suffer fools gladly? Probably not. His disdain for the normal rules of society means he can say all the things we wish we had the courage to; those times when we use white lies to protect people’s feelings, Holmes says what he thinks and doesn’t care for the consequences. All of these characteristics make him wonderful to watch and magical to read.

I wonder how many modern detectives will still be entrancing readers and viewers in 126 years time? I’m pretty sure Sherlock Holmes will be.