Doctor Who vs Sherlock?

BBC Worldwide viewers rank their favourite characters

Daily Telegraph

Sherlock's darkness is his genius

In the East End of London, 1888, a serial killer was on the loose. A series of slayings of women in Whitechapel had become associated in people’s minds with an imagined single murderer known as “Jack the Ripper”. Journalists were delighted to write about a new kind of criminal: mysterious, motiveless, all-powerful. And readers were equally ready for a new type of detective, with powers of his own to equal the “Ripper’s”. The stage was set for Sherlock Holmes.

He made his first appearance in Arthur Conan Doyle’s story A Study in Scarlet, published in a Christmas album in 1887. It was re-issued in novel form in the year of the Whitechapel murders, 1888.

Holmes is, of course, still alive and well today, and returns to BBC One on New Year's Day in his latest incarnation, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the detective alongside Martin Freeman as Dr Watson, a fantastically clever reworking of one of fiction’s greatest characters.

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Elementary, my dear Doctor: Sherlock beats the Time Lord as favourite character

  • 2017-02-15

The Great Detective has proved that he is the greatest by being voted the most popular BBC character in the world.

In a poll conducted by BBC Worldwide, they asked more than 7,000 people in Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Mexica and the US to rank the BBC characters they love the most.

Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of Sherlock beat The Doctor, fellow detective Luther and bumbling hotel owner Basil Fawlty for the accolade.

Almost a third of voters favoured the modern-day Sherlock Holmes, with the Time Lord finishing in second with 17.6% of the vote.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch said he was "honoured" that his portrayal has been internationally recognised, adding:

"Who would have thought a high functioning sociopath could be so popular with people all over the world?”

His character also received top place in fans' most memorable scene. Sherlock falling to his 'death' in the thrilling Series 2 finale, The Reichenbach Fall, received more than a quarter of the vote.

The most memorable scenes were somewhat macabre with all top three involving death in some way. In second place with 14.1% was Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch, closely followed by The Doctor's regeneration - where one incarnation dies and changes his appearance.

The Doctor's greatest enemies, the Daleks finished in tenth place for favourite characters with 5.6% of the vote, proving that they may not be the supreme creatures of the universe after all.

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The Guardian

The magic of television: how Doctor Who brought my son and me closer together

  • 2017-02-15

One of the joys and also one of the great disappointments of parenthood is sharing one's own childhood loves with one's children.

It was delightful to introduce my son Henry to Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree, which he loved, however disturbing so many of those stories are, but it was a little hurtful to find him totally indifferent to The Famous Five.

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