Sherlock Holmes[edit]
Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) describes himself initially as "a consulting detective, the only one in the world," helping out Scotland Yard when they are out of their depth with cases (usually homicides). He appears as a tall, thin man with dark, curly hair. Like the original character, Sherlock is able to deduce or abduce information from the small details.
Sherlock has a very unusual personality, and describes himself in the first episode "A Study in Pink," as a "high-functioning sociopath," a term he insists on in subsequent episodes. Others call him a "psychopath", and in "The Hounds of Baskerville," John tells Lestrade that he believes Sherlock has Asperger Syndrome. This manifests itself in very poor people skills, and extremely rude manners to everyone he deals with. He is however skilled at coercing people to help him, by mostly playing on their weaknesses. Mycroft has said Sherlock has the mind of scholar or philosopher.
Sherlock cares more about the crimes than about the victims involved. He is rude and inconsiderate towards others, including John (often leaving him behind and asking him to do menial, domestic tasks such as shopping). However, Sherlock is shown to care deeply for John as the series goes on, showing uncharacteristic emotion when his friend's life is in jeopardy or when John comes to his aid. Sherlock states the highest compliment he can give is saying that Mary deserves John as a husband. He considers only four people as his friends: John Watson, Mrs Hudson, Molly Hooper and DI Greg Lestrade, whose first name he never remembers. He also has an extremely complex relationship with his brother Mycroft, his only admitted intellectual superior. Mycroft, from the outset, is shown to care and worry deeply for him whilst at the same time sharing a mix of mutual contempt and respect. Sherlock seems to have grown more fond of his brother as the stories progress, even pleading with Mycroft to attend John and Mary's wedding; he was also shocked upon hearing his brother admit he'd be saddened by his death.
Sherlock appears largely asexual and describes himself as "married to his work". He seems oblivious to the romantic attraction that Molly has for him, but sometimes uses this to his advantage if it assists him in a case. After the introduction of Irene Adler, Sherlock seems to have some interest in Irene and comes to her rescue. She frequently flirts with and texts Sherlock in "A Scandal in Belgravia," but he seldom responds. In the following series, Sherlock briefly has a mental image of her in his Mind Palace when thinking of who would know John's middle name, but quickly retorts "Get out of my head, I'm busy." In Series 3 he is briefly in a relationship with Janine; however, this is later revealed to be a ruse to gain information on her boss.
Sherlock has considerable fighting ability, fighting off a man armed with a sword using his bare hands in "The Blind Banker." In "A Scandal in Belgravia," he disarms and incapacitates a CIA agent on two separate occasions.
He knows London's streets and alleys extremely well; in "A Study in Pink", he quickly figures out what route a cab would take and plans a route to beat it to its destination. In "The Empty Hearse", Sherlock works out which paths to take to shave time off the countdown to save John. He has strange connections, including a graffiti artist, as well as the entire network of the homeless (similar to the Baker Street Irregulars' street urchins in the original stories). In solving cases, Sherlock uses a technique known as the Method of Loci, which he calls his "mind palace," which enables him to efficiently store and retrieve information for deductions. Initially the mind palace appears as a series of assorted facts that appear on the screen when a scene is shown from Sherlock's point of view. In Series 3, the mind palace became a very elaborate construction where other characters from the series discuss Sherlock's cases with him.
Sherlock has violent mood swings when there are no cases that interest him. He is once seen stretched out on his chair and firing a gun at a smiley face spray-painted on the wall in his flat. He finds smoking impractical in present-day urban London and, therefore, mostly makes do with nicotine patches. He may apply three patches at the same time when it is a "three patch problem", implying the nicotine helps him to think. For the same reason, he plays the violin and even composes music from time to time. Sherlock also has a history of recreational drug use; solving dangerous cases his alternative. Seen in "His Last Vow", Sherlock has a short fuse when high or recovering, given he almost attacked Mycroft; John was also afraid that Sherlock would hospitalize.
Trying to avoid getting his face taken in pictures, Sherlock disguises it with a deerstalker. This becomes his trademark, much to his annoyance as he greatly dislikes the hat. However, he seems to have accepted it since he puts one on before greeting the press about his miraculous return in "The Empty Hearse".