The title doctor in House M.D. is named after Sherlock Holmes in a wordplay reference.
Gregory House and Sherlock Holmes share more than a similar surname. Both are exceptionally observant investigators who solve difficult cases through deduction, notice details others overlook, and often behave in ways that frustrate their colleagues.
The series also includes Holmes-inspired parallels in character and plot. House’s apartment number, 221B, references Holmes’s famous address at 221B Baker Street, and James Wilson serves as an analogue to Dr. John Watson.
These references do not mean House is a direct adaptation of every Holmes story. Instead, the show uses the detective’s methods and relationships as a structural influence on its medical mysteries. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are also fictional investigators, but they are not the principal literary model behind House.