Sherlock (BBC, 2010–2017)
Cumberbatch and Freeman, and the canon moved to present-day London.
The stories were modern when they were written, so make them modern again: same people, same cases, new technology.
You want the version everyone you know has an opinion about, and ninety minutes at a time suits you.
What it keeps and what it changes
Keeps: the canon’s cases, bent into new shapes — the fourth series is The Six Thatchers, The Lying Detective and The Final Problem — and the flat-share at 221B.
Changes: the century. Watson is back from Afghanistan, Holmes is a consultant to Scotland Yard, and each series is three ninety-minute films.
Whose story is it?
Holmes’s first, then increasingly about what he costs the people around him.
How much time does it ask?
Four series of feature-length episodes; the fourth aired in January 2017.
Produced by Hartswood Films for BBC One, co-produced with Masterpiece.
Where to find it
Watch on Prime Video (PBS Masterpiece channel)
Other ways to get it: Series 1 on Blu-ray — Amazon · Find where it’s streaming — JustWatch
Common questions
How many episodes of BBC Sherlock are there?
Four series of ninety-minute episodes, three to a series, from 2010 to January 2017, made by Hartswood Films for BBC One with Masterpiece. The fourth series — The Six Thatchers, The Lying Detective and The Final Problem — aired in January 2017.
More versions: Sherlock Holmes, Granada Television (1984–1994) · Sherlock Holmes (2009) and A Game of Shadows (2011) · The Basil Rathbone films (1939–1946)