The character of Sherlock Holmes has been a template for storytelling, with over 75 actors playing the iconic detective on screen. Despite the numerous adaptations, many versions have merely revamped narratives without truly expanding on the character. However, an upcoming Sky series, The Death of Sherlock Holmes, offers an intriguing glimpse into the underrepresented aspect of Holmes's story: the three years between his apparent death at Reichenbach Falls and his return in The Adventure of the Empty House.
Sherlock Holmes has survived just about every adaptation trend imaginable. Prestige BBC drama, big-budget action franchise, modern procedural, and there’s even a version where he solves crimes in the 22nd Century.
For well over 100 years, writers have offered fresh interpretations of how to outfit Arthur Conan Doyle's detective without significantly altering the core elements of his character. Many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes draw from the same basic set of elements: the location at 221B Baker Street, his sidekick, Watson, his arch-enemy, Moriarty, his love interest, Irene Adler, etc. Even the most original retellings of Holmes' story rely on the remaking of stories that already exist and do not take advantage of the virtually untapped possibility that Doyle left to future creators.
However, the upcoming Sky series, The Death of Sherlock Holmes, starring Rafe Spall, finally plants itself inside the one stretch of Holmes canon that adaptations almost always skip over entirely: the three years between Sherlock Holmes’ apparent death at Reichenbach Falls and his eventual return in The Adventure of the Empty House. Sherlock Holmes Has Been Adapted Endlessly But Rarely Expanded The writing of Sherlock Holmes by Doyle has produced one of literary history's most flexible characters.
His character’s adaptability has led to more than 75 actors playing Sherlock Holmes on screen, including Basil Rathbone, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr., and Jonny Lee Miller. The character is a template for storytelling. COLLIDER Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek Five legendary universes.
Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one. 🚀Star Wars 💍Lord of the Rings 🧙Harry Potter 👑Game of Thrones 🖖Star Trek FIND YOUR UNIVERSE → QUESTION 1 / 8PURPOSE 01 What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning?
Every universe is built around a different answer to this question. ABeing part of something larger than myself — a cause, a rebellion, a fight for freedom that outlasts me. BThe journey itself — the places I'll go, the companions beside me, the world I'll discover on the way. CLearning — unlocking what I'm capable of, understanding the world's hidden mechanics, growing into something more.
DLegacy — the name I leave behind, the power I build, the mark I make before the world moves on without me. EUnderstanding — exploring what exists beyond the horizon and asking what it means to be alive in a universe this vast.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 8WORLD 02 Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully. AA galaxy of planets, each with its own culture — connected by conflict, trade, and the Force.
BAncient lands of breathtaking beauty, deep history, and a creeping darkness at the edges. CA world hidden inside our own — full of wonder, community, and magic waiting to be learned. DA brutal, beautiful continent where power is everything and every alliance is a calculation. EA future where humanity has reached the stars — and must decide what kind of species it wants to be.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 8CONFLICT 03 How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul. AThrough sacrifice and courage — someone has to make the impossible choice so others don't have to. BThrough fellowship — the impossible becomes possible when the right people walk the same road.
CThrough growth — confronting what you fear, understanding what you lack, and becoming equal to the challenge. DThrough strategy — outthinking, outmaneuvering, positioning yourself so the outcome was never in doubt. EThrough dialogue — finding the third option, the peaceful resolution, the answer that doesn't require a body count.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 8COMPANIONS 04 Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for. AA small crew — a pilot, a rogue, a warrior — each broken in their own way, unbeatable together. BA fellowship of different kinds of people, bound by purpose and deepened by the long road.
CFriends who grew up alongside me — who knew me before I knew myself, and stayed anyway. DAllies whose loyalty I've earned — and tested — and whose ambitions align with mine, for now. EA crew of brilliant, curious, principled people from every corner of known space.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 8POWER 05 What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are. AI want to use it to protect — and I'm terrified of what I might become if I'm not careful. BI distrust it.
The most important power in this story is the courage to give it up. CI want to earn it — through knowledge, through effort, through becoming someone worthy of it. DI want to wield it. Preferably before someone else decides to wield it against me.
EI want to understand it — its structures, its limits, its ethical dimensions. Power without accountability is the real threat.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 8MORALITY 06 How does your universe treat good and evil? A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map. AThere is a dark side and a light side — and the choice between them is always present, always personal. BEvil is real and ancient and patient — and goodness, however small, is the only thing that can undo it.
CGood and evil are real, but they live inside people — and people are complicated, always capable of both. DGood and evil are mostly a matter of perspective and proximity. Power is the only honest currency. EEvil is usually the result of ignorance, fear, or broken systems — and understanding it is the first step to solving it.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 8ROLE 07 What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying? AThe reluctant hero — ordinary origins, extraordinary moment, changed forever by the choice to act.
BThe unlikely carrier — the one nobody expected to matter most, quietly bearing the weight of everything. CThe student — not yet who I'll become, learning through every mistake, growing into something the world needs. DThe player — sharp enough to see the game for what it is, ambitious enough to try to win it. EThe explorer — drawn to the unknown, driven by curiosity, most alive when standing somewhere no one has stood before.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 8HOPE 08 What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you. AThat hope is real — that even in the darkest galaxy, a new hope is always possible. CThat even the smallest person can change the course of the future, if they have the courage to try.
CThat love and friendship and doing what's right will matter in the end, even when everything says otherwise. DThat the wheel keeps turning — that power shifts, winters end, and what endures is those willing to fight for it. EThat humanity — or whatever we become — is capable of extraordinary things, if we choose to be.
REVEAL MY UNIVERSE → Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In… Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose. A Galaxy Far, Far Away Star Wars You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
Middle-earth Lord of the Rings You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost. The Wizarding World Harry Potter You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
Westeros · The Known World Game of Thrones You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it. The United Federation of Planets Star Trek You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ This flexibility is a major reason why this character has remained popular for so long. You can place him in Victorian London, modern New York, London during World War II, or even Tokyo, and it all still works. This is something that viewers immediately identify with: the impossible deductions, the self-confidence, the eccentricities, and the enjoyment of watching someone who is much smarter than everyone else in the room.
Most adaptations have not added significant material to the canon of Sherlock Holmes. They reinterpret Holmes, but they rarely expand him. The Death of Sherlock Holmes, though, instead of retelling Doyle’s most famous stories, builds itself around what Doyle intentionally left vague. The series picks up after Holmes’ supposed death during his confrontation with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls in 1891.
The world believes Holmes is dead, but an injured, amnesiac Englishman turns up in a Swiss village after being pulled from an icy stream by a local woman named Alma and her son, Franz.
‘The Death of Sherlock Holmes’ Turns the Detective Into a Mystery Himself Sherlock's usual role is control; when he walks into a room, he can usually see things that no one else can, and then he solves any problems before anyone else can. However, The Death of Sherlock Holmes takes away that same certainty. This particular version of Holmes doesn't really know who he is either.
There was some concern that using amnesia as a plot element could feel like a gimmick in another story. Fortunately, that isn't the case here. Doyle simply claimed that Holmes had gone to Europe to dismantle Moriarty's criminal syndicate before returning to England, which made sense from a storytelling standpoint but was not an emotionally driven element. Doyle needed Holmes alive again after killing him off.
The series has placed Holmes in the Swiss Alps, away from Watson, Baker Street, or anyone he has ever worked with, and with only strangers. This forces the character to operate outside his comfort zone. He is no longer considered an outstanding detective by everyone else; instead, he is a partially destroyed person attempting to put himself back together and also solve the murder that is part of a wider conspiracy.
This reversal, by itself, sets The Death of Sherlock Holmes apart from adaptations that merely bring the detective into the modern world through new clothes or technology. The Series Finally Uses Reichenbach Falls as More Than Iconography Reichenbach Falls has become one of the most recognizable moments in Sherlock Holmes' history. Adaptations love recreating it because audiences already understand the stakes.
Holmes versus Moriarty at the edge of oblivion is essentially franchise mythology by now, but most versions treat the fall as an ending or a fake-out death, then quickly move on. Subscribe to our newsletter for adaptation insights Looking for deeper context? Subscribe to the newsletter to get sharp, thoughtful breakdowns of adaptations — how creators expand canon, the storytelling choices that matter, and fresh angles that change how you see familiar characters.
Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. The Death of Sherlock Holmes is one of the few projects that actually explores what surviving Reichenbach would do to someone. That shift gives the series room to explore Holmes outside his usual environment.
The snowy Alpine setting already feels radically different from the foggy London imagery associated with the franchise, and the premise leans into a moodier, more psychological tone than audiences typically expect from Sherlock Holmes stories. Related 'Trying' Season 4's Rafe Spall & Esther Smith Look Ahead to Season 5 After That Cliffhanger Finale The 'Trying' Season 4 finale puts its beloved characters in a tough spot.
Posts By Tania Hussain It also helps that Spall feels like an inspired choice for this version of Holmes. Spall has always been good at playing intelligent men who look slightly worn down by their own brains. That energy makes sense for a Holmes operating at his lowest point instead of his most untouchable. The series could still fall into the same traps as countless Sherlock reinterpretations before it.
The Death of Sherlock Holmes has already passed the first hurdle that most adaptations do not even attempt: it has found an area of Holmes’ mythology that has never, ever been explored before and built an entire series around it. The fact that we have seen hundreds of adaptations of the same story over the years makes this one worth watching. Rafe Spall Birthdate March 10, 1983 Birthplace East Dulwich, London, England, UK Expand Collapse
Entertainment Literature Sherlock Holmes Adaptations Character Flexibility Basil Rathbone Benedict Cumberbatch Robert Downey Jr. Jonny Lee Miller Literary History's Most Flexible Characters Sky Series Reichenbach Falls The Adventure Of The Empty House Abandoned Parts Of The Canon
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Robert Downey Jr. Reveals 1 Condition for Sherlock Holmes 3Robert Downey Jr. says Sherlock Holmes 3 is still being discussed, but revealed one key person ultimately decides whether the sequel happens.
Read more »
9 Detective Shows That Make Sherlock Look SmallMany detective shows are more ambitious than Sherlock
Read more »
Katie Holmes Saw the Peplum Comeback and Did It Her WayFrom Anne Hathaway to Taylor Swift, stars are embracing the curve-waist silhouette with aplomb—Katie Holmes offers up her own springtime take.
Read more »
Daily briefing: How the ‘Enhanced Games’ could expose flaws in the sporting worldThe ‘steroid Olympics’ could highlight cracks in the anti-doping system. Plus, AI brain implants are headed for real-world use in China and the progress on treatments for the virus at the centre of the Ebola outbreak.
Read more »