Which is Your Favourite Sherlock?

[Dominic Crossman]

This question is two-fold
What is your favourite Sherlock TV series/Film/Book?
And which is your favourite interpretation of the character Sherlock?
And bonus Q, your favourite interpretation of the character Watson?

The reason I listed the Q's separately is because for me my favourite TV series is Elementary but my favourite Sherlock is Benedict Cumberbatch and my favourite Watson is Jude Law.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

All three of mine are from the same series... To me Sherlock is and always will be the Jeremy Brett and David Burke version.

It's classic, true to the original stories (unlike any of the adaptations in the last few years) and works really well. Watson's admiration of Holmes really stands through, which works well as it was that which made him write the memoires in the first place!

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Canadian here, I really enjoyed Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law in the second Sherlock Holmes movie. I know it turns him into a sort of action hero but they did it well enough for me to look past that.

I have only seen Sherlock Holmes in two other forms. The Great Mouse detective and a theatrical performance I saw as a kid many, many years ago. I think theater Sherlock was the best I ever saw but my experience with Sherlock performances is very limited.

[sub]I don't watch television. Yes I know I should see the latest Sherlock series, no that isn't happening soon. =P[/sub]

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

As a TV series I grew up watching a nondesript Hallmark Channel version which I liked a lot and helped cement the idea of classy Sherlock & Watson a lot like Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce used to do. Currently I love BBC's Sherlock, even though it gets more and more self-referential and fan-baity with ever season.

As for film, I'm not a big fan of Guy Ritchie's version. It's fun and I like RDJ and Jude Law's banter but it doesn't feel like Sherlock at all to me. It's an action movie in period costume.

Agreed The Great Mouse Detective is an awesome version and one of my favorite incarnations. Love Ratigan as Moriarty.

As for books, I've read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, His Last Bow, The Valley of Fear and The Hound of the Baskervilles. "Hound" I liked the tone and atmosphere though I was disappointed Sherlock sits out most of the story. Same deal with "Valley", half the story is just a big flashback from some dude. "Adventures" I don't remember very much. "Last Bow" has a nice mix of stories, a lot of which break the formula of first-person narration or the fact sometimes there isn't even a case. Plus there's a lot of Mycroft in them, which is always a nice plus.

 

[Strain42]

Well my absolute favorite is simply the books. I mean it's kinda hard to trump those as it is who Holmes is, and also he can look and sound however the reader wants him to (well...to an extent)

My favorite of the four novels is The Sign of Four and my favorite of the short stories is probably either The Red Headed League, Adventure of the Dancing Men, or The Greek Interpreter (but I'll confess I think that's just because I freakin' love Mycroft)

However, I will admit that I love the BBC Sherlock universe. I really like Cumberbatch as the titular character, and I think Martin Freeman is the best Watson in...ever.

Honorable mentions go to the House universe and The Great Mouse Detective for being based on Holmes without actually being Holmes.

Professor Ratigan makes for the best Moriarty ever (and was apparently Vincent Price's favorite character he ever played. That has to count for something given his huge film career)

 

[Willstown]

+1 for the Jeremy Brett era. Brett had vaguely vampiric dangerous quality to him that just worked perfect for the character.

The Cumberbatch and Downey versions have their merits, each pulling out specific aspects of the character very well. But the one you grew up watching is the one that tends to stick.

 

[jhoroz]

The only one. Take notes Cumberbatch and Downey.

 

[Mahorfeus]

Cumberbatch and Downey's portrayals are my personal favorites. Their respective Watsons as well, of course. In either case, I like that Watson isn't portrayed as some bumbling fool, as he often is in other works.

 

[MCrewdson001]

despite loving the new Sherlock my favourite for all of the questions is the ITV Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes show

 

[Rastrelly]

Livanov as Holmes and Solomin as Watson.

 

[Sylocat]

Yeah, the One True Sherlock Holmes is still Jeremy Brett for me as well.

I also agree with those who have mentioned Vincent Price as best Moriarty.

 

[KnightOfTwo]

For me the answer is quite simple: The interpretations of the characters in the TV series House, Hugh Laurie for House(Holmes, get it? sounds like Homes *rolls eyes*) and Robert Sean Leonard as Wilson. It was essentially Sherlock Holmes but with medical mystery instead of crime mystery (and just as ridiculous at times.

Hugh Laurie nailed the aspects of Sherlock that i find most enjoyable about the character, and by that I mean the most detestable aspects. House is completely arrogant, petulant, childish, pathetic, broken and thoroughly pathetic. He is barely capable of functioning unless working on a case or taking drugs (swap Opium for Vicodin), he is almost incapable of holding an actual relationship with someone outside Wilson and even then it's a deranged one by most standards. The only thing really lacking between House and Holmes is House lacks a brother (which would have been fun to see). We are expected to respect the characters because of their brilliance (and many do, that's been Steven Moffat's whole perspective with Sherlock, the celebration of a brilliant man), but they really do just come of as utterly detestable people, and I enjoy that split.

I don't like Cumberbatch's take on the character but only because I can't stand Cumberbatch. Downey did a pretty good job (the chemistry with him and Jude Law was incredible) though I think he managed that sort of unlikeable yet strangely compelling character acting better when playing Tony Stark. I haven't seen any other on-screen takes of the character (or none that come to mind) so I will just say other than House, the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories up to The Final Problem, anything in the Return of Sherlock Holmes I just don't care about. For me the series ends with The Final Problem.

That's my take anyway.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Why it's the 22nd century version!


I kid I kid and sorry for unleashing that horror back to the prent!

OT- My is the Robert Downey Jr version including Watson.

 

[Roguebubble]

The Jeremy Brett series and Sherlock are my favourites although I prefer Martin Freeman as Watson. Andrew Scott from the new series is the best Moriarty though

 

[Artina89]

It is a tie between Jeremy Brett and Benedict Cumberbatch, as they both do their own thing with the character of Sherlock Holmes, with Jeremy Brett being more faithful to the books in my opinion, but I also love Cumberbatch's more modern take on the Holmes character. My favourite Watson is the David Burke version in the Jeremy Brett series, but Edward Hardwicke was also a very good Watson as well. My favourite stories of the Sherlock Holmes canon has to be A study in scarlet, The final problem, The empty house and of course, arguably his most famous adventure, The hound of the Baskervilles.

 

[shteev]

Favorite Watson, that's easy: Martin Freeman. Watson's job is basically to go 'Good Lord Holmes!' all the time and Freeman manages to do this and still portray a fully rounded character.

Holmes, tho... I'd probably say Basil Rathbone. I grew up watching those old Black and White films on the TV. He may not be very edgy, but for me personally he absolutely defined the character.

 

[Total LOLige]

Johnny Lee Miller is my favourite Sherlock Holmes. I'm not sure which my favourite series/movie is and I haven't read any of the stories.

 

[MisterGobbles]

My only real experiences with Sherlock on television has been with the series that are currently running (aside from more loose adaptations like Japan's Detective Conan/Case Closed), which are the United States' Elementary (CBS) and the UK's Sherlock (BBC, PBS). I think they both have their strengths and weaknesses. Sherlock feels more like a series of movies than a real ongoing plot, but it also is less formulaic because of this; however, the formulaic approach of mystery shows are part of their charm in my opinion. I'd have to give the edge to the BBC version simply because of the brilliant pacing and acting, but the US version is almost as grand in a different, less epic way.

For favorite Sherlock, I'd have to go with Cumberbatch even though it's an extremely close race. He just brings a sort of schizophrenia to the character that makes you really believe he's some sort of mad genius. Miller is just as brilliant, but he seems almost restrained in comparison. It makes sense given the context (the Elementary Sherlock is recovering from addiction) but it's just slightly less fun to watch in my opinion. I'm glad we don't have to actually just have one though.

As for the recent movies, they're probably the weakest of my experiences with Sherlock, but they were also my first (I've never read the books, shoot me) and they're also very entertaining.

 

[Tanis]

Well, clearly, Wishbone!

 

[Asita]

Most prominent ones for me are Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Junior, and I easily have to give it to the former. Credit where it's due, RDJ played up Holmes's eccentricity better, but at the end of the day Cumberbatch's Holmes feels far more like a detective than RDJ's does, and if there is a single aspect that Sherlock Holmes is defined by it is his nature as a detective. While the movies do make a point of showing Sherlock's quick mind, they exclusively put it in the context of planning his next series of moves in combat, which makes him seem more a soldier than an investigator. While BBC's miniseries does have a moment or two like this, far more often than not Sherlock's skill is demonstrated by having him zero in on the details from which he drew conclusions about people.

Spoiler: Case in Point