Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of Scottish-born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skilful use of "deductive reasoning" while using abductive reasoning (inference to the best explanation) and astute observation to solve difficult cases.

Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that featured Holmes. All but four stories are narrated by Holmes' friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson; two are narrated by Sherlock Holmes himself, and two others are written in the third person. The first two stories, short novels, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 and Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The character grew tremendously in popularity with the beginning of the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two serialised novels appeared almost right up to Conan Doyle's death in 1930. The stories cover a period from around 1878 up to 1903, with a final case in 1914.

The first and only American television series of Sherlock Holmes adventures aired in syndication in the fall of 1954. The 39 half-hour mostly original stories were produced by Sheldon Reynolds and filmed in France by Guild Films, starring Ronald Howard (son of Leslie Howard) as Holmes and Howard Marion Crawford as Watson. Archie Duncan appeared in many episodes as Inspector Lestrade (and a few as other characters). Richard Larke, billed as Kenneth Richards, played Sgt. Wilkins in about fifteen episodes. The series' associate producer, Nicole Milinaire, was one of the first women to attain a senior production role in a television series.

Most of the episodes were non-Canonical stories except for an adaptation of "The Red-Headed League". Other episodes used the basic ideas of Holmes stories but changed details (e.g. "The Greek Interpreter" became "The French Interpreter").

First Sherlock Holmes TV series produced in England.

The scripts were rewritten from those used for the 1964 BBC series.

Based on the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle: Dr. John Watson returns from Afghanistan, and decides to share lodgings in Baker Street with Sherlock Holmes, an acquaintance of one of Watson's own friends. Not long afterward, Holmes brings Watson with him when he solves a murder case that has confused Inspector Lestrade. Watson soon becomes Holmes's friend, assistant, and chronicler, as the private detective takes on one baffling case after another. Written by Snow Leopard