140 Fun Facts About Sherlock (BBC Series)

Who plays Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock?

Benedict Cumberbatch, the only actor the producers saw for the part. His fans call themselves the Cumbercollective, and the show made him a star at 34.

Who plays Dr John Watson?

Martin Freeman, whose Watson is a war-damaged doctor with a blog rather than a bumbling sidekick, and who won an Emmy for the role in 2014. Tim in The Office had been pining for Dawn a decade earlier.

Which two writers created Sherlock?

Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, both Doctor Who writers, plotted their modern-day Holmes on train journeys between London and the Doctor Who set; the first episode aired in July 2010.

How many episodes of Sherlock were produced in total?

13: four series of three episodes, broadcast between 2010 and 2017, plus a one-off special shown on New Year's Day 2016.

On which channel did Sherlock originally air in the UK?

BBC One, the corporation's main channel; the show's New Year's Day 2014 return drew 12.7 million viewers. Co-creator Steven Moffat was running Doctor Who for the same channel at the time.

In which city was Sherlock primarily filmed?

Cardiff, where the production was based and the 221B interior was built in a studio; Welsh streets doubled for London, which was far costlier to film in.

Which real London road stood in for the exterior of 221B in Baker St?

North Gower Street: number 187 plays the exterior of 221B because the real Baker Street has heavy traffic and Sherlock Holmes Museum signage that would spoil the shot.

Which American station co-produced Sherlock for its Masterpiece strand?

WGBH-TV Boston, the public station that produces PBS's Masterpiece strand, co-produced the series, which is why Sherlock aired on PBS in the United States.

From which war has John Watson returned when he meets Sherlock?

Afghanistan, 'the same unwinnable war', as Mark Gatiss put it: Conan Doyle's Watson was wounded there in 1880, and the modern one in the 2000s. The psychosomatic limp disappears once the chases start.

Who plays Sherlock's nemesis, Jim Moriarty?

Andrew Scott, whose sing-song, whispering take on Moriarty made him the show's signature villain and won him a BAFTA TV Award in 2012 for series two.

What is Molly Hooper's job?

Pathologist at Barts Hospital: Molly works in the hospital morgue, where Sherlock flogs a corpse in the first episode and later borrows body parts; Louise Brealey plays her in all four series.

Who plays Mrs Hudson, the landlady?

Una Stubbs, who had worked with Cumberbatch's actress mother and known him since he was about four; she played Mrs Hudson across all four series before her death in 2021.

Which co-creator of the show plays Mycroft Holmes?

Mark Gatiss, who co-created the show and cast himself as Mycroft, the 'minor position in the British government' official; he also wrote The Hounds of Baskerville and The Empty Hearse.

Who plays DI Greg Lestrade?

Rupert Graves, whose Lestrade is a decent, put-upon Scotland Yard inspector; his first name, Greg, is only spoken aloud in The Hounds of Baskerville.

Which Conan Doyle story's version of Lestrade did the writers choose to follow?

The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, in which Lestrade tells Holmes that Scotland Yard is proud of him; Mark Gatiss cited that frustrated-but-admiring Lestrade as their model.

Which 2007 film made Moffat and Vertue want to cast Cumberbatch as Sherlock?

Atonement, the 2007 Ian McEwan adaptation in which Cumberbatch played the predatory Paul Marshall; Moffat and producer Sue Vertue saw it and considered no one else for Sherlock.

How does Sherlock describe himself instead of a psychopath?

A high-functioning sociopath, 'do your research', though psychologist Maria Konnikova disputed the label, and so would most psychiatrists. He also styles himself the world's only consulting detective.

What replaces Holmes's pipe in the modern series?

Nicotine patches: Sherlock calls the first episode's puzzle 'a three-patch problem', updating Conan Doyle's 'three-pipe problem' because he cannot smoke indoors in modern London.

Which future Doctor Who star auditioned unsuccessfully for Watson, judged too 'barmy'?

Matt Smith, the first actor to audition for Watson, was turned down as too 'barmy' for the straight-man role; Moffat then cast him as the Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who.

Who plays Mary Morstan?

Amanda Abbington, Martin Freeman's real-life partner at the time, joined the cast in series three as Mary; the couple announced their separation in 2016.

Who plays Mr and Mrs Holmes, the brothers' mother and father, from series three?

Cumberbatch's real mum and dad: his parents, the actors Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton, play Mr and Mrs Holmes, first appearing in The Empty Hearse in 2014.

Who plays Irene Adler in A Scandal in Belgravia?

Lara Pulver, previously seen in the BBC spy drama Spooks, played Irene Adler in the January 2012 series-two opener, which drew more than 100 complaints to the BBC.

Who plays Henry Knight in The Hounds of Baskerville?

Russell Tovey, the Being Human and Him & Her actor, plays Henry Knight, who as a boy watched his father die on Dartmoor and believes a gigantic hound did it.

Sherlock was first announced in 2008 as what kind of production?

A single 60-minute drama: the BBC commissioned a one-hour pilot in 2008, then reshot and expanded it into a three-film first series and never broadcast the original version.

Roughly how much did the original unaired pilot reportedly cost?

£800,000: the reported cost of the hour-long unaired pilot, which the BBC chose to reshoot at feature length; the original version later appeared on the series one DVD.

Which director came up with putting text messages on screen instead of showing phones?

Paul McGuigan, who directed A Study in Pink and three more episodes, devised showing texts as floating on-screen captions rather than cutting to a phone screen.

What is the name of the sandwich shop beneath the flat used as Sherlock's home?

Speedy's, the real sandwich bar next to the front door used as 221B; its owner reported a sharp rise in customers, many of them fans, after the series aired.

Which brand made the £1,000 coat Cumberbatch wore in the series?

Belstaff: Sherlock's heavy wool Milford coat had been discontinued, and the brand put it back into production because of fan demand after the first series.

Who composed the music for Sherlock?

David Arnold and Michael Price, whose score pairs a solo violin with electronic pulses; the duo went on to win a Primetime Emmy for their Sherlock music.

Which film franchise had David Arnold scored before Sherlock?

Five Bond films between 1997 and 2008.

Which production company made Sherlock with the BBC?

Hartswood Films, the independent producer run by the Vertue family, which opened a Welsh arm, Hartswood Films West, in 2009 to make the series with the BBC.

Producer Sue Vertue is married to which member of the creative team?

Steven Moffat, whose wife Sue Vertue produces the series for her family's company; after hearing Moffat and Gatiss talk up a modern Holmes over lunch she pushed them to develop it before someone else did.

How long is a typical Sherlock episode?

85–90 minutes: after the hour-long pilot, the BBC commissioned three feature-length 90-minute films per series rather than six one-hour episodes.

The Empty Hearse, the highest-rated UK drama episode of 2014, opened which run?

The third series: The Empty Hearse, broadcast on 1 January 2014 after a two-year gap, drew a consolidated 12.72 million viewers, the year's biggest UK drama audience.

Where is the one-off 2016 special set?

Victorian London, with Sherlock in deerstalker and frock coat and Watson writing for The Strand, as in the original Conan Doyle stories; the special aired on New Year's Day 2016.

How many acting and writing Emmys did Sherlock win at the 2014 Primetime ceremony?

Three: at the 2014 Primetime telecast Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman won the lead and supporting actor awards for a miniseries or movie and Steven Moffat won for writing.

Which Sherlock episode won the Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie in 2016?

The Abominable Bride, the one-off special first shown on 1 January 2016, beat Luther and All the Way among others to the 2016 Outstanding Television Movie Emmy.

In which category did Freeman win a BAFTA for Sherlock in 2011?

Best Supporting Actor: Freeman won the 2011 BAFTA TV Award for Sherlock's first series; Andrew Scott beat him to the same award a year later for playing Moriarty.

Sherlock's third series became the UK's most-watched drama series since which year?

2001: series three's three January 2014 episodes averaged 11.82 million viewers, the highest average for any UK drama series since 2001.

What did the Royal Mail hide on its 2020 Sherlock stamps?

Secret storylines revealed under UV light: the six 2020 stamps, featuring Cumberbatch, Freeman, Abbington and Scott among others, carried hidden details that appear only under ultraviolet light.

What was the subtitle of the official mobile app launched in 2014?

The Network: Sherlock: The Network, released in January 2014 ahead of series three, cast the player as a member of Sherlock's homeless network, with Cumberbatch and Freeman in filmed cameos.

Which miniseries did fans wrongly believe was a cover for a secret fourth episode of series four?

Apple Tree Yard: the Emily Watson thriller took the Sunday slot after The Final Problem in January 2017, and some fans insisted it was a disguise for a secret fourth episode.

Which Conan Doyle novel is the first episode loosely based on?

A Study in Scarlet, Conan Doyle's first Holmes novel, published in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887; A Study in Pink reworks its title and its first meeting of Holmes and Watson.

What word does the woman in pink scratch into the floor before dying?

Rache: Anderson reads it as German for 'revenge', but Sherlock deduces she was writing 'Rachel', her stillborn daughter's name, which is also her phone password.

What is the murderer's occupation in A Study in Pink?

Taxi driver, just as the killer in Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet drove a hansom cab, because nobody notices who is driving. He is dying of an aneurysm, and a sponsor pays him for every victim.

What game does the killer make his victims play in A Study in Pink?

Choose one of two identical pills, one poison: the killer presents two bottles and promises to swallow whichever pill the victim leaves him; Sherlock never learns whether his own choice was right.

What is the killer's 'gun' in A Study in Pink actually?

A novelty cigarette lighter: Sherlock spots that the pistol is a fake, says he could simply leave, and stays to play the pill game out of curiosity.

In A Study in Pink, who is the umbrella-carrying 'arch-enemy' who has John kidnapped and offers him money to spy on Sherlock?

Mycroft, his brother, played by co-creator Mark Gatiss, who 'occupies a minor position in the British government' and, Sherlock says, is the British government. John turns the money down.

What is the name of the Chinese smuggling gang in The Blind Banker?

Black Lotus Tong: the Chinese smuggling ring leaves its threats in Suzhou numerals, an old merchants' number system, painted in yellow as a cipher.

What book does Sherlock use to crack the cipher in The Blind Banker?

The London A–Z street atlas: the numbers are a book cipher, page and word, and Sherlock realises every tourist and new arrival in London would own the A–Z.

What is the stolen 'treasure' in The Blind Banker?

A jade hairpin, the Empress Pin worth £9 million; Van Coon had pocketed it and given it to his secretary Amanda, who wore it without knowing its value.

Whose old trainers turn up in flat 221C at the start of The Great Game?

Carl Powers, a schoolboy who drowned in London in 1989 after botulinum toxin was slipped into his eczema medication; young Sherlock had noticed his missing shoes.

How does Sherlock prove the 'lost' Old Master painting is a forgery in The Great Game?

It shows a supernova from 200 years later: the sky includes the Van Buren supernova, first visible in 1858, so a supposed 17th-century Vermeer must be fake; Sherlock spots it as a child hostage counts down.

In what guise had the villain already appeared before revealing himself in The Great Game?

He calls himself 'a specialist, just like you'.

Where does the series-one finale cliffhanger take place?

A swimming pool: the pool where Carl Powers drowned, where Moriarty has John strapped into an explosive vest and Sherlock aims at the bomb as the series ends.

Which Conan Doyle story provided the electronic beeps sent as warnings in The Great Game?

The Five Orange Pips: Moriarty's bomber warns with five, then four, then three Greenwich-style pips, updating the orange pips that warned Conan Doyle's victims of the Ku Klux Klan.

What is Irene Adler's profession in A Scandal in Belgravia?

Dominatrix: Irene styles herself 'The Woman' and keeps compromising photographs of her clients, including a royal; in Conan Doyle she was a retired opera singer.

What is the password to Irene Adler's phone?

So the screen reads I AM SHER-LOCKED.

How does Irene Adler greet Sherlock at their first meeting in A Scandal in Belgravia, leaving him unable to deduce a thing?

Nude, her 'battle dress', because Sherlock reads people by their clothes and she has given him nothing to read. The scene aired before the 9pm watershed and drew complaints.

What does the stolen code Irene asks Sherlock to crack turn out to be?

Airline seat numbers: the email Sherlock decodes in seconds lists seat allocations on a jumbo jet, exposing the government's plan to let terrorists bomb a plane loaded with corpses.

Where do Sherlock and John first meet Mycroft's client in A Scandal in Belgravia?

Buckingham Palace: Sherlock is bundled there wrapped only in a bedsheet to meet the equerry of a royal client whose photographs Irene Adler is holding.

What is Irene's final text to Sherlock, suggesting her death?

Goodbye, Mr. Holmes: the text arrives as Mycroft reports her beheaded by terrorists in Karachi, but a flashback shows Sherlock, disguised as the executioner, rescuing her.

What is John Watson's middle name, revealed in A Scandal in Belgravia?

Hamish: John lets it slip while Irene and Sherlock spar, honouring Dorothy L. Sayers' theory that Watson's 'H.' stood for Hamish, the Scots form of James.

What is Baskerville in The Hounds of Baskerville?

A Ministry of Defence research base: Baskerville is a secretive military lab on Dartmoor, and Sherlock bluffs his way in with Mycroft's pilfered security pass.

What does H.O.U.N.D. turn out to stand for in The Hounds of Baskerville?

A secret CIA hallucinogen project: H.O.U.N.D. was a 1980s aerosol drug experiment at Liberty, Indiana, named for its scientists' initials; Henry's flashes of 'Liberty' and 'In' led Sherlock to it.

What memory technique does Sherlock use in The Hounds of Baskerville?

The mind palace: the memory-mapping technique Sherlock uses to sift everything he knows about 'Liberty In', borrowed from the ancient method of loci.

How does the killer, Dr Frankland, die in The Hounds of Baskerville?

He runs into a minefield: after Henry attacks him, Frankland flees across the Grimpen minefield surrounding the base and is blown up when he treads on a mine.

What is written all over the walls of the villain's holding cell at the end of Hounds of Baskerville?

Sherlock: the name scratched over every inch of Moriarty's glass cell, which Mycroft observes before letting him walk free at the end of the episode.

Which three places does the villain break into simultaneously in The Reichenbach Fall?

The Tower of London, the Bank of England and Pentonville Prison: Moriarty cracks all three at once with a supposed master key-code and leaves 'Get Sherlock' on the Crown Jewels case.

What fake identity does the villain create to discredit Sherlock in series two?

Richard Brook: 'Rich Brook' is an English rendering of Reichenbach, the name of the Swiss falls; Moriarty poses as an actor Sherlock supposedly hired to play a criminal mastermind.

From which London hospital's roof does Sherlock apparently jump in The Reichenbach Fall?

St Bartholomew's, or Barts, where Holmes and Watson first met in Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, and where the show's pair meet too. How he survived the fall took two years and a dozen fan theories to answer.

How does the villain die on the roof in The Reichenbach Fall?

He shoots himself: after realising Sherlock might force him to call off the snipers, Moriarty says 'as long as I'm alive, you can save your friends', then puts a gun in his mouth.

Which artist painted the waterfall picture Sherlock recovers at the start of series two's finale?

J.M.W. Turner painted the real falls in 1804.

What is the tabloid headline Mycroft reads after Sherlock's fall?

Suicide of Fake Genius: the headline in The Sun that Mycroft reads at the Diogenes Club as John visits him after the fall.

What is the seven-minute 2013 Christmas mini-episode called?

Many Happy Returns, released online on 24 December 2013, in which Anderson tracks an apparently alive Sherlock from Tibet to New Delhi to Germany.

Which mentalist appears in The Empty Hearse hypnotising John in a fake explanation of the fall?

Derren Brown, the TV mentalist, cameos in the first fake explanation, hypnotising John on the pavement while Sherlock's fall is staged; the theory is revealed as Anderson's.

What is Sherlock disguised as when he reveals himself to John in The Empty Hearse?

A French waiter, complete with drawn-on moustache and accent, at the restaurant where John plans to propose to Mary; John attacks him three times in three different eateries.

How many possible rooftop scenarios does Sherlock say he and Mycroft anticipated?

Thirteen: Sherlock tells Anderson that he and Mycroft had worked out thirteen possible scenarios once he was on the roof; Anderson is the last person he would actually have told.

What does Sherlock use under his arm to stop his pulse in his explanation of the fall?

He also used an inflatable mattress and his Homeless Network.

Where is John trapped when Sherlock and Mary rescue him in The Empty Hearse?

Inside a Guy Fawkes bonfire: John is drugged and stuffed inside a Bonfire Night pyre, and Sherlock and Mary race there by motorbike after a skip-code text warns them.

What is the target of the bomb hidden in a Tube carriage in The Empty Hearse?

The Houses of Parliament: the carriage sits in the disused Sumatra Road station beneath Westminster, timed for a late-night anti-terrorism bill on 5 November, Guy Fawkes Night.

Around what event is The Sign of Three built?

John and Mary's wedding: the episode unfolds through Sherlock's rambling best man speech, which turns into a live investigation of a murder attempt among the guests.

What is the wedding photographer's alias as a killer in The Sign of Three?

The Mayfly Man, so called because he dates women for a single night under dead men's identities; he is the photographer Jonathan Small, out to kill Major Sholto.

What does Sherlock deduce about Mary at the end of The Sign of Three?

She is pregnant: Sherlock reads Mary's increased appetite, change of taste and morning sickness and breaks the news to the stunned couple during the reception.

Which Conan Doyle story is His Last Vow based on?

The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, the 1904 story about 'the worst man in London', a society blackmailer whom Holmes burgles; Milverton became the press baron Magnussen.

Who plays the blackmailer Magnussen in His Last Vow?

Lars Mikkelsen, the Danish actor known from The Killing and Borgen; his younger brother Mads played Hannibal Lecter on television.

Who shoots Sherlock at Magnussen's headquarters in His Last Vow?

Mary, John's pregnant wife, revealed as a former intelligence assassin with a past Magnussen holds over her. The sequence inside Sherlock's mind palace as he bleeds is the show's showiest.

Why is Sherlock dating Mary's bridesmaid Janine in His Last Vow?

She is Magnussen's assistant: Janine is his personal assistant, so a fake engagement gets Sherlock past security into Magnussen's office; she later sells the story to the tabloids.

What initials are on the memory stick Mary gives John?

A.G.R.A.: the label on the memory stick holding Mary's past; John throws it into the fire unread months later, choosing to accept her as she is.

Where does Magnussen actually keep his blackmail archive?

In his mind palace: the famous Appledore vaults turn out to be Magnussen's memory, so there are no physical documents for Mycroft's people to seize.

How does Sherlock deal with Magnussen at the end of His Last Vow?

He shoots him in the head: with no documents to seize and Mycroft's helicopter overhead, Sherlock kills Magnussen on the Appledore lawn; Mycroft then arranges exile rather than a trial.

What message is broadcast on every screen at the end of His Last Vow?

Did you miss me?: Moriarty's face and the words appear on every screen in Britain, and Sherlock's exile flight is recalled minutes after take-off.

What year is the Victorian storyline of the 2016 special set in?

1895, the year Vincent Starrett's poem 221B calls eternal for Holmes ('it is always 1895'); the special's Victorian scenes are dated to that year.

Which Conan Doyle story mentions 'Ricoletti of the club foot', the source of the special's title?

The Musgrave Ritual, in which Holmes lists early untold cases including 'Ricoletti of the club-foot and his abominable wife', the phrase that gave the special its name.

Who is behind the Bride killings in the 2016 special?

A secret women's rights society: a suffragist conspiracy whose hooded members, including Molly's alter ego Dr Hooper and Janine, stage Emelia Ricoletti's 'ghost' to punish wicked men.

Where does the Victorian story of the special turn out to be taking place?

In Sherlock's drug-laden mind palace: on the recalled plane he has overdosed to imagine a Victorian case that might show how Moriarty could have survived shooting himself.

What is the Watsons' daughter named in The Six Thatchers?

Rosamund: Rosamund Mary Watson, called Rosie, born in The Six Thatchers, with Sherlock, Molly and Mrs Hudson as godparents.

Which parable about a merchant fleeing Death does Sherlock retell in The Six Thatchers?

The Appointment in Samarra: Sherlock narrates the tale of the Baghdad merchant who flees to Samarra to escape Death, only to keep their appointment there; it frames the whole episode.

What word does 'Ammo' turn out to mean in The Six Thatchers?

Amo, Latin for I love: the word Ajay heard as 'ammo' was the code word Amo, pointing to Lady Smallwood's Whitehall code name Love, though the real traitor was Vivian Norbury.

Where does Sherlock meet Vivian Norbury for the confrontation in which Mary is shot?

The London Aquarium: Sherlock goads Norbury among the shark tanks, she fires at him and Mary throws herself in front of the bullet, dying in John's arms.

What does Mary ask Sherlock to do in her posthumous DVD message?

Save John Watson: Mary's DVD tells Sherlock that only by putting himself in danger, 'go to hell, Sherlock', can he make John save him and so be saved himself.

Who plays the serial killer Culverton Smith in The Lying Detective?

Toby Jones, the Dobby and Truman Capote actor, plays the grinning philanthropist Culverton Smith, a celebrity who murders patients in his own hospital wing.

What product does Culverton Smith use Sherlock's accusation to promote?

A brand of cereal: Smith turns Sherlock's 'serial killer' accusation into a jokey television advert for his breakfast cereal, billing himself as a 'cereal killer'.

Where was the recording device that captured Culverton Smith's confession?

In John's walking stick: Sherlock had hidden a recorder in the cane John was carrying again, capturing Smith's bedside confession; Smith then finds he rather enjoys confessing to Lestrade.

Who does John's therapist reveal herself to be at the end of The Lying Detective?

Eurus, the secret Holmes sibling: the therapist pulls a gun on John and reveals she was also the fake Faith Smith and the woman John flirted with on the bus.

Who plays Eurus Holmes?

Sian Brooke, who auditioned separately for the therapist, Faith and the bus woman before being told they were all one character; she had played Ophelia to Cumberbatch's Hamlet in 2015.

What is Sherrinford in The Final Problem?

Mycroft had Eurus moved there behind their parents' backs.

What was Redbeard really, as Sherlock realises in The Final Problem?

His childhood friend Victor Trevor: 'Redbeard' was not a dog but the boy Sherlock played pirates with; Eurus trapped him in a well, and Sherlock rewrote the memory as a lost pet.

What Christmas present had Mycroft once given Eurus?

Unsupervised minutes with Moriarty: five minutes alone with Jim Moriarty one Christmas, during which he recorded the video messages Eurus later uses in her game.

Who is the little girl on the plane in The Final Problem?

Eurus herself: the girl on the doomed plane is Eurus's own image of her isolation, and the whole game was a cry for help that Sherlock answers by finding her at Musgrave.

How do Sherlock and Eurus communicate at the end of The Final Problem?

Playing the violin together: Eurus, back in Sherrinford, will not speak, so Sherlock visits and plays duets with her, sometimes with their parents and Mycroft watching.

Which genius does Mycroft compare Eurus to?

Isaac Newton: Mycroft describes Eurus as 'an era-defining genius, beyond Newton', who could work out all of us in a single glance.

What does Mary call Sherlock and John in her final video?

The Baker Street Boys: Mary's closing narration calls them 'the best and wisest men I have ever known, my Baker Street boys', as life in the restored flat resumes.

Which BBC mockumentary made the Watson actor famous as Tim Canterbury?

The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's 2001–03 mockumentary, in which Freeman's Tim Canterbury pined for receptionist Dawn at the Wernham Hogg paper company.

Which hobbit did the Watson actor play in Peter Jackson's trilogy?

Bilbo Baggins, the title role in Peter Jackson's three Hobbit films (2012–14), shot in New Zealand between Sherlock series; Freeman had also been Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Which two Hobbit characters did Cumberbatch portray?

Smaug and Sauron: Cumberbatch voiced and motion-captured the dragon Smaug and the Necromancer, Sauron's shadow form, so Holmes and Watson faced off again in Middle-earth.

For which role did Cumberbatch get his first Oscar nomination?

Alan Turing in The Imitation Game earned Cumberbatch his first Best Actor nomination at the 2015 Oscars; his second came for Phil Burbank in The Power of the Dog in 2022.

Which Phoebe Waller-Bridge series later cast the Moriarty actor as 'the Priest'?

Fleabag: Scott's 'hot priest' in the 2019 second series became a phenomenon and won him a Critics' Choice Television Award for supporting actor in a comedy.

Which Patricia Highsmith character did the Moriarty actor play in a 2024 Netflix series?

Tom Ripley, in Steven Zaillian's black-and-white Ripley (2024), adapting The Talented Mr. Ripley; the role brought Scott Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

Which sitcom made the Mrs Hudson actress famous as Rita, Alf Garnett's daughter?

Till Death Us Do Part, the 1960s–70s BBC sitcom in which Stubbs played Rita, daughter of Warren Mitchell's bigoted Alf Garnett; she reprised Rita in two follow-up series.

Which children's series had the Mrs Hudson actress play Aunt Sally opposite Jon Pertwee?

Worzel Gummidge, the ITV children's series of 1979–81 in which Stubbs's snooty fairground dummy Aunt Sally was the object of Jon Pertwee's scarecrow's devotion.

On which HBO series did the Irene Adler actress play Sookie's fairy godmother?

True Blood: Pulver played Claudine Crane, Sookie Stackhouse's fairy godmother, in the 2010 third season of HBO's vampire drama.

Which period drama had the Mary Morstan actress play Josie Mardle?

Mr Selfridge, ITV's department-store drama, in which Abbington played the accessories buyer Miss Josie Mardle from 2013; she had met Freeman on the set of the TV film Men Only.

Which E. M. Forster adaptations first made the Lestrade actor prominent?

A Room with a View and Maurice: Graves made his name as Freddy Honeychurch in Merchant Ivory's A Room with a View (1985), then played Alec Scudder in Maurice (1987).

For the score of which episode did Arnold and Price win a Creative Arts Emmy?

His Last Vow, the series three finale, won the 2014 Creative Arts Emmy for music composition for a miniseries, movie or special, one of the episode's seven Emmys that year.

Who plays DI Dimmock, the inspector on The Blind Banker case?

Paul Chequer plays DI Dimmock, the young Scotland Yard inspector who stands in for Lestrade in The Blind Banker and reluctantly follows Sherlock's lead.

Which Doctor Who director handled The Reichenbach Fall?

Toby Haynes, who had directed Moffat's Doctor Who two-parters The Pandorica Opens and The Impossible Astronaut, took on The Reichenbach Fall, series two's finale.

How many UK viewers did The Reichenbach Fall attract?

9.78 million: The Reichenbach Fall's consolidated BARB audience on BBC One in January 2012, behind the series' 10.66 million for A Scandal in Belgravia.

Who plays Sergeant Sally Donovan, the officer who calls Sherlock 'freak'?

Vinette Robinson plays Sergeant Sally Donovan, the Scotland Yard officer who calls Sherlock 'freak' in A Study in Pink and leads the case against him in The Reichenbach Fall.

By what percentage did sales of Conan Doyle's books reportedly rise during series one?

180%: the reported rise in sales of Conan Doyle's Holmes books while series one aired in 2010, when BBC Books issued tie-in editions with the actors on the covers.

Which two tie-in websites did the BBC publish for the show?

thescienceofdeduction.co.uk and johnwatsonblog.co.uk, in-character sites for Sherlock and John written by Joseph Lidster; John's blog posts tracked the cases and readers could leave comments.

Which board game got a Sherlock-themed edition in 2012?

Cluedo: Winning Moves released a Sherlock edition of Cluedo in 2012, with suspects and locations drawn from the first two series.

Which category did Sherlock itself win at the 2011 BAFTA Television Awards?

Best Drama Series: Sherlock's first series won the 2011 BAFTA Television Award for Drama Series, beating Downton Abbey, the same night Martin Freeman won Supporting Actor.

Besides airing on BBC One, where was the 2016 special The Abominable Bride shown on 1 January 2016?

In British cinemas: the special was screened in UK cinemas on the night it aired, with extra footage including a guided tour of the 221B set; US cinemas followed on 5 and 6 January.

Which actor plays the serial-killer Jefferson Hope in A Study in Pink?

Phil Davis, the veteran of Quadrophenia and Vera Drake, plays the dying killer Jeff Hope; other series-one guests included Gemma Chan as Soo Lin Yao and Haydn Gwynne as Miss Wenceslas.

Which IT Crowd actress plays journalist Kitty Riley in The Reichenbach Fall?

Katherine Parkinson, Jen from The IT Crowd, plays Kitty Riley, the tabloid reporter Moriarty feeds his fake 'Richard Brook' identity to in order to discredit Sherlock.

Which episode of series one was filmed first?

The three episodes were shot in reverse order of broadcast; Paul McGuigan directed the first and third and Euros Lyn the second.

Which former Doctor Who lead provides the planetarium voice-over heard in the series-one finale?

Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor, recorded the planetarium narration heard during the Vermeer showdown in The Great Game, an in-joke from the show's Doctor Who writers.

The live experience Sherlock: The Game Is Now opened in 2018 inside which London shopping centre?

West 12, Shepherd's Bush: the immersive game, written by Moffat and Gatiss with the makers of the escape room Time Run, opened in the W12 shopping centre in 2018 with filmed appearances by the cast.

A manga adaptation of Sherlock's first series was serialised from 2012 in which Japanese magazine?

Young Ace, Kadokawa's seinen monthly, serialised Jay's manga of A Study in Pink from 2012; Titan Comics brought it to English readers from June 2016.