Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed literary human character in film and television history. True!
Sherlock Holmes has been awarded a Guinness World Record for having appeared on screen 254 times in Film and TV. False! More!
Since his creation in 1887, Sherlock Holmes has been played by over 75 actors. False! More!
According to the Guinness World Record Book, Sherlock would not be the overall most portrayed literary character on screens because that title belongs to the non-human character Dracula, who has been portrayed in 272 films. Perhaps 'second most', but certainly not MOST, who are they kidding? The truth is out there.
The truth is revealed in the "Sherlock Holmes on Screens" book series and, as of today, this website.
“Data! data! data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay.”
Well here is your "Data! Data! Data!", all the data you can swallow and more Holmes!
"The game's afoot!"
Howard Ostrom & Thierry Saint-Joanis, authors of the "Sherlock Holmes on Screens" book series
5,000
From 1900 to the end of 2020, we have identified
more than 5,000 Sherlockian productions on screens.
Our score
The genesis of the Sherlock Holmes on Screens Project
With "Sherlock Holmes on Screens" book series, the reader will "behold the fruit of pensive nights and laborious days” spent by American Sherlockian, Howard Ostrom. For years he has researched and assessed archives of all kinds, unearthing original, unpublished, and occasionally surprising information that now contributes to a clearer understanding of the significance, fame and influence of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation for international audiovisual culture. Film by film we may follow the irrepressible rise of the Great Detective to motion picture celebrity status.
For thirty years, from the other side of the Atlantic, French Holmesian Thierry Saint-Joanis gathered data for a project to create an encyclopædia addressing all adaptations of Sherlock Holmes in all forms, from the entire world without forgetting the non-English-speaking productions.
Fate and love of the subject brought them together to group their finds on the adaptations for screens.
Screens, plural. All forms of visual media as viewed on cinema, television, and even internet. If there is something Sherlockian on a screen, it deserves an entry in their books. Even if the link with Conan Doyle stories is tiny or none. A quote, a deerstalker or a pipe which raises any Sherlockian allusion to the spectator, and the game’s afoot! Howard and Thierry are on the trail of who, what, when, where and why. It is always good to know and it helps to understand the influence of the detective of Baker Street in our daily lives, our parents, and our children.
