Many of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories have been adapted into movies, some even multiple times, whereby the first adaptation are as old as from the 1920s.

In the first adaptation from the 20’s, Sherlock Holmes has been played in 56 of its parts by actor Eille Norwood.

In 1939 the role of Sherlock Holmes was played by Basil Rathbone. Due to the great success of the film, Rathbone portrayed the famous detective is in many other films, which led to Basil Rathbone being one of today’s most known actors in this role.

A Holmes television series was filmed in the United States in the 1950’s and its first episode was aired in 1954. The British actor Ronald Howard portrays detective Sherlock Holmes and the role of Dr. Watson is played by Howard Marion-Crawford.

The series was also interesting because of the large number of famous actors appearing as supporting actors. Among many other famous actors and entertainers included were also Paulette Goddard, who often played alongside Cary Grant and had won an Oscar in 1943 in the Best Supporting Actress category for the movie So Proudly We Hail!.

Natalie Schafer, known for the US sitcom Gilligan's Island, also appeared in a supporting role in the series, and so did Dawn Addams, who played the female lead role in Charlie Chaplin's film A King in New York in 1956.

Peter Cushing played detective Sherlock Holmes in the new colour film version of The Hound of the Baskervilles from 1959 and continued portraying the detective in the BBC television series that started being filmed in 1968.

In 1967 and 1968, West German Broadcasting produced a 6-part television series in which Erich Schellow played the role of Sherlock Holmes and Paul Edwin Roth portrayed his friend, Dr. Watson.

The film The Sign of the Four was shot as part of the ARD series The Great Detectives from 1974.The role of Sherlock Holmes was interpreted by Rolf Becker, who years later took on a detective part in the television series Everything’s OK!, which, however, had no connection to Sherlock Holmes.

A Russian series of five 2-3-part films was shot between 1979 and 1986. Wassili Liwanow portrayed Sherlock Holmes and Vitali Sonomin played Dr. Watson.

Between 1984 and 1994 The British company Granada TV produced a comprehensive series of a 41 movies, in which Jeremy Brett played the role of Sherlock Holmes. David Burke played the role of Dr. Watson, but was later replaced by Edward Hardwicke.

Movies about the famous detective were produced even in Canada. From 2000 to 2002, four films were made in which Matt Frewer played the role of Sherlock Holmes and Kenneth Welsh that of Dr. Watson.

In 2002, The Hound of the Baskervilles with Richard Roxburgh in the starring role of Sherlock Holmes was filmed. Holmes’ friend, Watson, was played by Ian Hart.

The movie Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the lead character and Jude Law as Dr. Watson, was released in German cinemas in 2010. In the same year, BBC started the British TV series Sherlock, in which Sherlock Holmes was portrayed by actor Benedict Cumberbatch and Dr. Watson by Martin Freeman.

Germany is known in particular for the film The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes with Hans Albers and Heinz Ruhmann, whereby the two main characters introduced themselves as simply Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, although they were in fact unsuccessful detectives McPherson and Flynn.

Moreover, numerous film and television releases featured Sherlock Holmes as their main character.