It has been known for a long time that Joseph Bell, who taught Conan Doyle at Edinburgh Medical School, was a model for Sherlock Holmes. Recent research suggests that he was already engaged in this work in 1878, the very year that Conan Doyle entered his class and became his clerk. Though Conan Doyle's early life is a mystery and his personal papers were withheld from view for decades, the more we looked, the more we found. The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes is a coproduction of the BBC and WGBH Boston. The screenplay is written by David Pirie.
Additional funding comes from public television viewers.