The Various Digital Footprints of Sherlock Holmes
At this very moment in time, in fact, there are a handful of well-regarded, popular, ongoing, and high profile properties featuring the character, and the public’s interest in his continuing adventures (or endless revivals and reinterpretations of his old ones) — over 120 years since Conan Doyle first introduced the character — seemingly hasn’t waned a bit.
The BBC’s extremely popular contemporary production, simply entitled Sherlock, is set to air a one-off special this upcoming Christmas Day. A sneak preview photo has just today hit the Web, which you can check out below, and read more about here.
In honor of all current and ongoing Holmesian brouhaha, we’ve concocted the list below. This is by no means a comprehensive survey of every actor to ever play the part, but is instead a list which compares the online existences — in terms of size, impact, influence, and prominence, etc. — of today’s most high profile Sherlocks, with those actors most historically and frequently associated with the part.
| Rank | Picture | Name | Plays/played Holmes in | Current PeekScore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Robert Downey, Jr. | Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies | 10.00 / 10.00 |
| 2 |  |
Benedict Cumberbatch | BBC’s Sherlock | 10.00 / 10.00 |
| 3 |  |
Jonny Lee Miller | CBS’ Elementary | 8.04 / 10.00 |
| 4 |  |
Basil Rathbone | Fourteen Hollywood feature films | 7.57 / 10.00 |
| 5 |  |
Jeremy Brett | Granada TV’s The Advenures of Sherlock Holmes | 7.33 / 10.00 |
| 6 |  |
Igor Petrenko | 2013 Russian TV series | 7.03 / 10.00 |
| 7 |  |
Vasily Livanov | Numerous Russian films made in the 70s and 80s | 7.02 / 10.00 |
| 8 |  |
Eille Norwood | Forty-seven 1920s silent films | 7.00 / 10.00 |
| 9 |  |
William Gillette | Over 1,300 stage performances around the world | 6.21 / 10.00 |