What profession does Sherlock Holmes describe himself as having in BBC’s Sherlock?

In BBC’s Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes describes his profession as a consulting detective.

The phrase comes from Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories, where Holmes is known for advising Scotland Yard and private clients on cases that ordinary investigators cannot solve. The BBC series preserves that distinctive occupation while transferring it to modern London.

Sherlock does not work as a conventional police officer. He is an independent consultant whom Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade and other clients approach when a case requires unusual observation and deduction. His relationship with the Metropolitan Police is cooperative but often argumentative.

The term is sometimes shortened by viewers to “detective” or replaced with “private investigator,” but “consulting detective” is the character’s defining professional description. It also distinguishes him from Watson, whose medical training supplies a different expertise.