Sherlock Holmes of the BBC's 'Sherlock'

Arthur Conan Doyle's descriptions of Sherlock Holmes as he originally created him.

• Uses "strong tobacco" (the modern day version uses nicotine patches and only smokes a couple of times)
• "I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally do experiments."
• "I get in the dumps at times, and don’t open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I’ll soon be right."
• Watson tells us in Chapter 2 of "A Study in Scarlet",
  • "In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments."
  • "I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself."
  • "Neither did he appear to have pursued any course of reading which might fit him for a degree, in science or any other recognized portal which would give him an entrance into the learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was remarkable, and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me."
  • Watson makes a list of what Holmes knows about and doesn't:
    • "Literature.—Nil"
    • "Philosophy.—Nil"
    • "Astronomy.—Nil"
    • "Politics—Feeble"
    • "Botany—Variable" (knows poisons but not gardening)
    • "Geology—Practical" (well up on soils and where they come from)
    • "Chemistry.—Profound"
    • "Anatomy—Accurate, but unsystematic"
    • "Sensational Literature.—Immense" ("He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century)
    • "Plays the violin well."
    • "Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman"
    • "Has a good practical knowledge of British law"
  • "You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan..... I knew you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran, 'Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.' The whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished."
  • "I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in shoe leather—that is, when the fit is on me, for I can be spry enough at times."

    Sherlock tries to gain Irene Adler's trust but his disguise doesn't work. She tells him, "Do you know the big problem with a disguise, Mr. Holmes? However hard you try, it's always a self-portrait."
    "You think I'm a vicar with a bleeding face?"
    "I think you're damaged, delusional, and believe in a higher power. In your case, it's yourself."
from "#201 A Scandal in Belgravia"

    John doesn't think Sherlock is taking things as seriously as they should be taken, "There are lives at stake, Sherlock. Actual human lives. Just so I know: do you care about that at all?"
    "Will caring about them help save them?"
    "Nope."
    "Then I'll continue to not make that mistake."
    "And you find that easy, do you?"
    "Yes. Very. Is that news to you?"
    "No. No."
    "I've disappointed you."
    "Good. That's good deduction. Yeah."
    "Don't make people into heroes John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them."
from "#203 The Great Game"

    Mycroft tells John, "My brother has the brain of a scientist or a philosopher and yet he elects to be a detective. What might we deduce about his heart?"
    "I don't know."
    "Neither do I. But initially, he wanted to be a pirate."
from "A Scandal in Belgravia"