Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed literary human character in film and television history, having appeared on screen 254 times as of 2012. Additionally, many actors have portrayed Sherlock Holmes in audio dramas and stage productions.
Radio and audio dramas Name Title Date Type Edward H. Smith The Sign of the Four 1922 Radio (WGY) William Gillette The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" 1930 Radio (NBC Blue Network) Lux Radio Theatre – "Sherlock Holmes" 1935 Radio adaptation of the play (NBC) Clive Brook The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Red-Headed League" 1930 Radio (NBC) Richard Gordon The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1930–1933, 1936 Radio (Mutual, NBC) Louis Hector The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1934–1935 Radio (NBC) Orson Welles The Mercury Theatre on the Air – "Sherlock Holmes" 1938 Radio adaptation of the play (CBS) Basil RathboneThe New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1939–1946 Radio (Blue Network, Mutual) Arthur Wontner The Boscombe Valley Mystery 1943 BBC Home Service John Cheatle My Dear Watson 1943 Cedric Hardwicke The Adventure of the Speckled Band 1945 Laidman Browne Silver Blaze 1945 Tom Conway The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1946–1947 Radio (ABC) John Stanley The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1947–1949 Radio (Mutual) Howard Marion-Crawford The Adventure of the Speckled Band 1948 BBC Home Service Ben Wright The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1949–1950 Radio (ABC) Carleton Hobbs Sherlock Holmes 1952–1969 Radio (BBC series) John Gielgud The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1954 Radio series (BBC Light Programme) Richard Hurndall The Sign of Four Parts 1–5 1959 BBC Light Programme Robert Langford Sherlock Holmes 1967 South African Broadcasting Corporation Robert Hardy Sherlock Holmes 1970–1971 LP record series Robert Powell A Study in Scarlet 1974 BBC Radio 4 Kevin McCarthy CBS Radio Mystery Theater 1977 Radio (CBS) Barry Foster Sherlock Holmes 1978 Radio series (BBC Radio 4) Graham Armitage The Stories of Sherlock Holmes 1979–1985 Radio series (Springbok Radio) John Beal CBS Radio Mystery Theater – "The Vanishing Herd" 1981 Radio (CBS) Gordon Gould CBS Radio Mystery Theater 1981–1982 John Moffatt Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula 1981 BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Mark Wing-Davey The Mystery of the Reluctant Storyteller 1986 BBC Radio 4 Tim Pigott-Smith The Valley of Fear 1986 Roger Rees The Hound of the Baskervilles 1988 Ronald Pickup The Singular Case of Sherlock H. and Sigmund F. 1988 BBC Radio 3Clive Merrison BBC Radio Sherlock Holmes (the entire canon – the first actor to do so) 1989–1998 BBC Radio 4 The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (British series) 2002–2010 William Chubb The Adventure of the Pimlico Poisoner 1990 BBC Radio 4Simon Callow The Seven-Per-Cent Solution 1993 BBC radio dramatisation of the novel The Unopened Casebook of Sherlock Holmes 1993 Radio series (BBC Radio 5) John Gilbert The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (American series) 1998–2000 Radio series (Imagination Theatre) Roy Hudd The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes 1999 BBC Radio 2 James Fox The Beekeeper's Apprentice 2000 BBC Radio 4 Robert Bathurst A Capital Case: Karl Marx Meets Sherlock Holmes 2001 BBC Radio 4John Patrick Lowrie The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (American series) 2001–presentRadio series (Imagination Theatre) The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (the entire canon) 2005–2016 Martin Jarvis Sherlock Holmes Theatre 2006 Hollywood Theatre of the Ear Roger Llewellyn Sherlock Holmes – The Death and Life,Big Finish – 1.02 Sherlock Holmes – The Death and Life Sherlock Holmes – The Last ActBig Finish – 1.01 Sherlock Holmes – The Last Act 2009Audio dramas (Big Finish Productions) Nicholas Briggs Sherlock Holmes– Big Finish – Sherlock Holmes 2010–present David Warner Sherlock Holmes 2011 California Artists Radio TheatreMir Afsar Ali Sunday Suspense 2012–present Radio Mirchi / Goppo Mir-er Thek Seamus Dever The Hound of the Baskervilles 2014 Audio drama (L.A. Theatre Works) Derek Jacobi The Hound of the Baskervilles 2017 Audio play (Bleak December Inc.) Orlando Wells Mrs Hudson's Radio Show 2018 BBC Radio 4 James Loye Genius 2019–2020 Scripted podcast Nicholas Boulton Sherlock Holmes: The Voice of Treason 2020 Audio drama (Audible Original) Albert Garnica Madison on the Air 2021–present Scripted podcast Jonathan Le Billon The Blue Carbuncle 2021 Scripted reading Colin Salmon The Hound of the Baskervilles 2021 Audio drama (Audible Original) Phil LaMarr Moriarty 2022–present Mark Gatiss Drama on 3 - "The Hound of the Baskervilles" 2023 BBC Radio 3 Paterson Joseph Baker Street Four 2023 Audible Original Harry Attwell Sherlock & Co. 2023–present Scripted podcast (Goalhanger Podcasts) Simon Jones Sherlock Holmes & the Nefarious Baron 2026 Live radio play (American) Tom Baker Sir Sherlock: The Red Letter Day TBA Audio drama (British)
Stage plays Name Title Date Type and location C.H.E. Brookfield Under the Clock 1893 Stage (Royal Court Theatre) John Webb Sherlock Holmes 1894 Stage (Royalty Theatre, Glasgow) William Gillette Sherlock Holmes 1899 Stage (Broadway) The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes 1905 Stage (Metropolitan Opera House) John F. Preston The Bank of England: An Adventure in the Life of Sherlock Holmes 1900 Stage (Clapham) Clarence Blakiston Sheerluck Jones, or Why D'Gillette Him OffClarence Blakiston on Historical & Fictional Characters in Sherlockian Pastiches – Sherlockian Theatre 1901–1902 Stage (Terry's Theatre) Walter Edwards The Sign of the Four 1903 Stage (West End Theater)Herbert Kelcey Sherlock Holmes 1903 Stage (Broadway Theatre, Butte, Montana)Stage (Spokane Theatre, Spokane, Washington)Harry Arthur Saintsbury Sherlock Holmes 1903–1910 Stage (London) The Speckled Band 1910 Kenneth Rivington Sherlock Holmes 1904–1905 Stage (UK tour) H. Lawrence Leyton Sherlock Holmes 1905–1906 Károly Baumann Sherlock Hohmec, the King of Detectives 1905 Stage (Hungary) Arthur V. Johnson The Burglar and the Lady 1905–1906 Stage (US) H. Hamilton Stewart Sherlock Holmes 1906–1918 Stage (England)Ferdinand Bonn Sherlock Holmes 1906 Stage (Berliner Theatre) Der Hund Von Baskerville 1907 Dennis Neilson-Terry The Crown Diamond 1921 Stage (London) Eille NorwoodThe Return of Sherlock Holmes 1923 Stage (UK) Hamilton Deane Sherlock Holmes 1923–1932 Tod Slaughter The Return of Sherlock Holmes 1928 Stage (England) Felix Aylmer The Holmeses of Baker Street 1933 Stage (Lyceum Theatre) Tod Slaughter Sherlock Holmes 1930 (~) Stage Basil Rathbone "Sherlock Holmes" by Ouida Bergère 1953 Stage play Fritz Weaver Baker Street 1965 Stage musical (Broadway Theatre, NYC) John Neville Sherlock Holmes 1973 (~) Stage (Royal Shakespeare Company) John Wood Sherlock Holmes 1974–1976 Stage (Broadway) Leonard Nimoy Sherlock Holmes 1976 Stage (Royal Shakespeare Company)Frank Langella Sherlock Holmes 1977, 1981 Stage (Williamstown Theatre Festival), filmed for TV in 1981 Sherlock's Last Case 1987 Stage (Nederlander Theatre) Paxton Whitehead The Crucifer of Blood 1978 Stage (Broadway) Keith Michell The Crucifer of Blood 1979 Stage (London) Valentīns Skulme Šerloks Holmss 1979 Stage (Latvia) Keith Baxter The Penultimate Problem of Sherlock Holmes 1980 Stage (Off-Broadway) Murder Dear Watson 1983 Stage (UK) Paul Singleton Grit in a Sensitive Instrument 1980, 1982, 1994 Stage (regional theatre, Off-Broadway), cable TV, FSU/Asolo Conservatory The Blue Carbuncle 2007–2008 2022 Stage (Off Broadway, Los Angeles) A Requiem for Sherlock Holmes 2013 Stage (Off Broadway) The Lost Document 1991 Stage (regional theater) Charlton Heston The Crucifer of Blood 1981 Stage (Los Angeles) Sherlock's Last Case 1990 Stage (Broadway) Tom Baker The Mask of Moriarty 1985 Stage (Dublin) Alec Baldwin A Study in Scarlet 1987 Stage (The Free Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival) Jeremy Brett The Secret of Sherlock Holmes 1988–1989 Stage (touring, British) Time Winters Sherlock Holmes and the Hands of Othello 1987 Stage (Off-Off Broadway, NY) Ron Moody Sherlock Holmes: The Musical 1989 Stage Christopher Lloyd Sherlock Holmes 1990 Stage (The Weston Playhouse) Javier Marzan The Hound of the Baskervilles 2007 Stage (West Yorkshire Playhouse) Jay Baruchel Sherlock Holmes 2013 Play by Greg Kramer (Canada) Julien Masdoua Le Cabaret Sherlock Holmes 2013 Stage (France) Benjamin Lawlor The Hound of the Baskervilles 2013 Stage (UK) Simon Michael Morgan Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol 2013 Stage (Britain) Peter Land To Kill a Canary 2014 Stage (Britain) Gregory Wooddell Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery 2015 Arena Stage in Southwest (Washington, D.C.) Euan Morton Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery 2015 Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, CaliforniaPaul Andrew GoldsmithSherlock Holmes & the Case of the Christmas Carol2015–2016UK theatre tour David Arquette Sherlock Holmes 2015 Play by Greg Kramer Jay Taylor Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery 2017–2018 Liverpool Playhouse Luke Barton Sherlock Holmes – The Sign of Four 2018–2019 UK theatre tour Alan Tudyk Mysterious Circumstances 2019 Geffen Playhouse (America) Collin Conway The Hound of the Baskervilles 2022 Stage (Encore Center Theatre, Southern Pines, North Carolina, USA) Danny Richter Sherlock Holmes und der Hund der Baskervilles 2023–2025 European theatre tourColin Baker The Hound of the Baskervilles 2022–2025Live radio play reading, UK tour The Sign of Four 2025–2026 Ed Hawkins Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four 2024 Opera (UK) Dave Hearn The Hound of the Baskervilles 2024 Stage (Britain) Humphrey Ker Sherlock Holmes and The 12 Days of Christmas 2025–2026 Stage (Britain)
Television and DTV films