Benedict Cumberbatch famously played a modern-day Sherlock Holmes in the BBC’s Sherlock miniseries, but according to Rotten Tomatoes, he’s not the best modern version of the Great Detective. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes made his debut in 1887 in A Study in Scarlet, after which he went on to appear in a total of four novels and 56 short stories. Sherlock Holmes became one of the most popular characters in literature, and as such, he, his cases, and the characters closest to him have been adapted to all types of media for decades.
The state of the rights of Sherlock Holmes has allowed artists to make various changes to the characters to fit their artistic vision, and some recent adaptations have opted to bring them to the modern world. One of the most successful recent and modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes is the BBC’s Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the detective and Martin Freeman as John Watson. Sherlock has been praised for modernizing the character and for its performances, but according to Rotten Tomatoes, it isn’t the best modern-day version of the famous detective.
CBS’s Elementary Outscores BBC’s Sherlock On Rotten Tomatoes
Elementary Has A 95% Critics’ Score On Rotten Tomatoes
While Sherlock enjoyed the success of its second season and all the debate and controversy its season finale sparked, another modern-day version of Sherlock Holmes was released. Created by Robert Doherty, Elementary was released in September 2012 and ran for a total of seven seasons, ending in 2019. While Sherlock was a crime drama, Elementary was a procedural drama, and it made a couple of changes to the characters and their stories to adapt them to the modern world.
Elementary starred Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes, who, after falling from grace in London and spending some time in rehab, relocated to Manhattan. Holmes was forced to live with a sober companion, Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu), and as he wanted to resume his work as a police consultant, Watson had to accompany him. As we all know, Watson ended up becoming Holmes’ partner, and they teamed up to solve a variety of mysteries and crimes in the city.
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Why Elementary Was Canceled After 7 Seasons Explained — & Where Jonny Lee Miller & Lucy Liu Are Now
“Why was Elementary canceled after seven successful seasons?” is a question many fans probably had in 2018, but the reason’s not a mystery.
Elementary stuck around for seven seasons, all of which were acclaimed by critics, though the final season wasn’t as positively received as its predecessors. At the time of writing, Elementary has a 95% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, while Sherlock holds a 78% critics score. Sherlock ran for four seasons, but it saw a significant decline after its second season, with the final season considered the worst.
How Elementary Compares To Sherlock (& Is It Really Better Than The BBC Show?)
Elementary & Sherlock Brought The Great Detective To The Modern World
Elementary and Sherlock have key similarities, such as both being set in the modern world and their lead characters struggling with substance use (just like Conan Doyle’s character, though all of them dealt with it in different ways), but they had different ways of telling the stories of Holmes and Watson. Sherlock had a miniseries format, while Elementary was a procedural drama, which helped it be more consistent and better develop its characters, while Sherlock was more restrained in that sense.
Sherlock was too ambitious in its final two seasons, which led it to rush through storylines and new characters, which affected the quality of those seasons. Elementary, on the other hand, had more time to develop its characters and storylines, and introducing more characters from the books felt smoother. Elementary was more consistent than Sherlock, and in that sense, it’s definitely better, but ultimately, which is the better modern Sherlock Holmes TV show will depend on each viewer.
Despite Their Similar Premises, Elementary And Sherlock Are Very Different Shows
Elementary & Sherlock Are Different Looks At The Famous Detective
Although both shows are modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, Elementary and Sherlock are very different from each other. The cases Holmes and Watson investigated in Elementary were mostly original ones, while Sherlock adapted and mixed some of Conan Doyle’s stories, following the show’s line of adapting the characters and stories. The tone of Elementary was also different, and while it was suspenseful and dramatic, it felt lighter than Sherlock, which felt too somber at times (but it worked for it).
The format of each show is also different, with Sherlock’s episodes being longer, almost movie-like, while Elementary had shorter episodes due to its procedural format. Both Elementary and Sherlock are worth watching for fans of the character and Conan Doyle’s stories, and they are different enough to appeal to different tastes.