This article has been updated by Rory O'Connor.
Are you a Benedict Cumberbatch stan or a Jeremy Brett purist? Is everyone wasting their time trying to beat Basil Rathbone, or did Robert Downey Jr. reinvent the role? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal creation Sherlock Holmes has appeared in countless dramatisations in the last 100 years of TV and cinema — many of which are available to stream right now.
Indeed, there’s never been a better time to be a fan of the genius detective who resides at 221B Baker Street, and with Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock now available on Prime Video, what better time to round up and rank our favourite adaptations of Doyle’s immortal stories. In the list below, you’ll find some you’re heard of and perhaps some you haven’t. You’ll also find one or two that you may not have been aware were based on the same texts.
Read on to learn a bit more about our top 10 and use the guide below to find out where to stream all of them on services like AppleTV, Netflix, BBC iPlayer and elsewhere.
The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
First, a shout out to the offshoots, oddballs, reimaginings and Holmeses in disguise — beginning with the animated few. You can see Sherlock portrayed by a dog in the anime TV series Sherlock Hound, but the most famous cartoon version has to be Disney’s 1986 children' s classic, The Great Mouse Detective.
Ok, so the hero’s name is Basil, but that is clearly an homage to the great Basil Rathbone — the first actor who became synonymous with the role (of course, more on him later). If you’re looking for a Sherlock that the whole family can enjoy (and if you like Disney movies like Aristocats and The Rescuers), this one should be just the ticket.
Mr. Holmes (2015)
One of the best recent efforts to approach the Sherlock legend from a unique angle was the 2015 feature film Mr Holmes.
This is the one where Ian McKellen plays a vulnerable and ageing Holmes, who has retired to Sussex, and whose great mind is now battling with dementia. If you are a fan of McKellen and are interested in a Sherlock movie with a novel approach like that, it’s a very pleasant watch.
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Just a few years before Benedict Cumberbatch made the character his own, Holmes was famously revived as a movie franchise by Guy Ritchie, with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law making for likably energetic versions of Holmes and Watson.
The movies were titled Sherlock Holmes and A Game of Shadows and, as I’m sure you can guess, both are delivered with Ritchie’s characteristic style and sense of humour. If you’re looking for a Holmes tale with a bit more action and swagger, look no further.
Enola Holmes (2020)
In one of the more recent attempts to refresh the material, Henry Cavill gave a typically charismatic and statuesque performance as the detective in Netflix’s soon-to-be-trilogy of Enola Holmes movies — albeit as the supporting character of the franchise.
As the title suggests, Enola centres instead on Sherlock’s much younger (but equally brilliant and brave) sister, Enola — who is played by Stranger Things breakout, Millie Bobby Brown.
House (2004-2012)
Of course, Enola is not the only outside-the-box attempt to rejig Doyle’s stories for a new audience. In Without a Clue Holmes is a character created by Dr Watson, and in Miss Sherlock, he is a she, with a female Watson to boot. And yet, the most famous of these doesn’t involve a detective at all…
Indeed, for a while in the 2000s, the biggest TV show in the world was the one starring Hugh Laurie as a man with an intimidating demeanour, a drug addiction and a genius for deduction… sound familiar? if you hadn’t twigged it, the title of the long-running series - House - was a cute clue.
Elementary (2012-2019)
The remarkable success of Sherlock on the BBC left space for more TV takes on Holmes, with the American response coming in the form of Elementary. Led by Jonny Lee Miller as a troubled Sherlock in New York City, its case-of-the-week format made it a good bet for Holmes traditionalists while Lucy Liu’s new spin on Watson helped to keep it fresh.
This is a great one for fans of Liu — especially from her various TV projects over the years, like Ally McBeal.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
Of the numerous versions of Sherlock that have focused on a human man named Sherlock, plenty of the lesser-known ones deserve consideration. Nicholas Rowe is sharp and quirky as a young Holmes in 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes. Then there was horror stalwart Peter Cushing - his version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, from 1959, is probably the Holmes story with the scariest horror vibes.
But the award for the best of the classic Holmes should go to Basil Rathbone, the man who helped make the character a screen icon for the first time in The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1939 — so credit where credit is due.
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
For something slightly more outside the box, Robert Stephens is, for me, the best random, one-off Holmes ever. Stephens plays the lead in Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, a funny and imaginative version from 1970.
This is a great one for any fans of Wilder’s legendary comedies, like The Apartment or Some Like it Hot. A youngish Cristopher Lee even pops up to play Mycroft, Holmes’ brother.
Sherlock (2010-2017)
In recent years, any screen Holmes has had to measure up to Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC TV series Sherlock. This was the show that made Cumberbatch an unlikely sex symbol and an A-list star while bringing Doyle’s stories back for a new generation.
The later seasons arguably lose their way as they try to cater to and second-guess the show’s hyper-engaged fanbase, but at its best it’s a fearsomely slick, tightly written and confident production.
Sherlock Holmes (1984)
Despite all that inventiveness over the years, the wonder of Holmes derives from the original stories, and so our pick for the best Holmes ever is the one that most feels like the Conan Doyle character brought to life.
That’s Jeremy Brett in Sherlock Holmes, the ITV series that ran for a decade from 1984. It’s the definitive version, with Brett the ideal of the great detective: mysterious, mercurial, playful and sharp. Scroll down to find out where to watch it, along with all the other titles in our ranked list.
