Which author’s detective stories is the BBC series Sherlock based on?

The BBC series Sherlock is based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories.

Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson in 1887’s A Study in Scarlet, followed by four novels and 56 short stories. Sherlock reimagines those characters in modern London rather than Victorian England, updating Holmes’s tools from telegrams and newspapers to smartphones, GPS and the internet.

The series was created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, both longtime Holmes enthusiasts. Its episodes often adapt recognizable Doyle plots: “A Study in Pink” draws on A Study in Scarlet, while “The Hounds of Baskerville” updates The Hound of the Baskervilles. The show also retains Baker Street, Moriarty and Holmes’s police connections.

A common mix-up is confusing the BBC programme with other modern Holmes adaptations, such as the American series Elementary. Those productions also derive from Doyle’s work, but Sherlock specifically stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman and ran for four series from 2010 to 2017.