10 December 2023 , 18:00
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Sherlock Holmes may have been the world's most loved fictional detective for almost 120 years but it appears he was not so well loved by the man who created him.
That’s according to historian and lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan Lucy Worsley, who has been investigating why Sherlock Holmes’ author, Conan Doyle, seemingly hated his protagonist. The first episode of Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle is coming to BBC Two on Sunday at 9pm and promises to shine a new light on Sherlock and the man who created him.
Intuitive, observant and analytical, detective Sherlock Holmes captured the hearts of millions of fans around the world with his adventures, solving 60 cases along the way. Now a new documentary series investigating the life and works of Conan Doyle - the complex man who created him - is coming to the BBC and promises to shed new light on the fictional detective.
Lucy Worsley has been a lifelong fan of Sherlock Holmes (BBC/Tom Hayward)"I have had a life-long crush on Sherlock Holmes, so it was the biggest pleasure imaginable to explore his life, death and resurrection," Lucy said. "While exploring his life and times, I also got a real and sometimes troubling insight into manliness, Empire and Victorian values. I find his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, to be a complex, contradictory and endlessly fascinating character."
Lucy looks at Conan Doyle’s backstory and how he was a medical student before becoming a writer and physician and drew heavily on his medical experience when developing Sherlock's character. She explores the author’s growing disenchantment with his detective creation and desire to distance himself from Sherlock because he felt like his historical fiction works had been overlooked.
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Born in Edinburgh, Conan Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories about the loveable detective's pursuit of criminals using his observational skills and powers of deduction. Most of the stories are narrated by Holmes’s sidekick, Dr Watson, who shared his quarters in Baker Street.
Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle is on BBC Two on Sunday at 9pm (BBC Studios)In the BBC2 documentary, Ms Worsley claims Doyle only submitted his first Holmes novel in the hope he would subsequently be allowed to pursue his real ambition – writing historical fiction. That first novel, A Study in Scarlet, was rejected three times before being accepted. However, Holmes then went on to appear in 60 original stories, making Doyle extremely rich but, according to Ms Worsley, resentful that his success distracted him from fulfilling his long-held ambition.
Doyle was a fascinating man - he was twice an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate and became interested in spiritualism after the death of his son. The writer died of a heart attack in 1930, at the age of 71.
Ms Worsley told The Radio Times: "Perhaps Arthur's biggest secret was the fact that he'd long hated Holmes. He blamed his detective for preventing him from achieving his dream. He would have hated the fact that today, 93 years after his death, his historical novels lie unread, while his 'cheap' – but beloved – detective lives forever on our screens".
The Sherlock Holmes stories have been adapted for stage, film and television, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Cushing, Roger Moore, Ian McKellen, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, Jonathan Pryce and Basil Rathbone all playing the detective over the years. Actors may have loved playing the detective, but his creator secretly hated him.
Lucy Worsley Investigates airs on BBC2 on Sunday at 9pm.