Which author’s detective character strongly inspired Gregory House in House M.D.?

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes strongly inspired Gregory House in House M.D. The connection appears in House’s deductive reasoning, his difficult personality, and several deliberate parallels between the television doctor and Doyle’s detective.

House and Holmes both solve unusual cases by noticing details that other people overlook. Their names also echo one another: “House” resembles “Holmes,” while House’s friend James Wilson parallels Holmes’s companion Dr. John Watson. House’s apartment number, 221B, is another direct reference to the Baker Street address associated with Holmes.

The series does not simply retell Sherlock Holmes stories. It adapts the detective’s investigative method to medical diagnosis, with symptoms and test results replacing clues and witness statements. Doyle created Sherlock Holmes in the late nineteenth century, and the character first appeared in the 1887 novel A Study in Scarlet.