In BBC’s Sherlock, the character nicknamed “the Woman” by Sherlock Holmes is Irene Adler.
Irene appears in “A Scandal in Belgravia,” the first episode of series 2, played by Lara Pulver. She is a professional dominatrix who possesses compromising photographs involving a member of the royal family. Sherlock is impressed by her intelligence, independence, and ability to challenge his usual analytical control, leading him to refer to her simply as “the Woman.”
The nickname comes from Arthur Conan Doyle’s story “A Scandal in Bohemia,” where Irene Adler is the only woman to outwit Holmes in the original canon. In the BBC adaptation, the phrase is a title of respect rather than Irene’s personal name. She should not be confused with Mary Morstan, John Watson’s wife, or Molly Hooper, Sherlock’s colleague at the morgue.