Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes was the most famous detective of the 19th century . His adventures were recorded and popularised by his companion John Watson . ( PROSE : " All - Consuming Fire " , " Erasing Sherlock " ) However , during the War Holmes ' life was erased from time and turned into fiction , ( PROSE : " The Book of the Enemy " ) in the form of the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle . ( PROSE : " Evolution " , " Revenge of the Judoon " , AUDIO : " Jago in Love " , COMIC : " Character Assassin " ) Gillian Petra described Holmes as " interesting without being terribly important to major world events " . ( PROSE : " Erasing Sherlock " ) Biography . Holmes had several notable relatives , including his father Siger , his brothers Sherringford and Mycroft , ( PROSE : " All - Consuming Fire " ) and his sister Jenny . ( PROSE : " Erasing Sherlock " ) From 1882 to 1883 , time travel ler Gillian Petra worked undercover as a maid on Baker Street to observe Holmes and his companion John Watson . ( PROSE : " Erasing Sherlock " ) Watson wrote stories of Holmes ' adventures ; according to one account , Watson and Holmes had other names , but Watson ' s literary agent Arthur Conan Doyle anonymized them under those identities . ( PROSE : " All - Consuming Fire " ) In 1887 , he was asked by the Pope to investigate the missing books at the Library of St John the Beheaded . He went to the Library to investigate when the Seventh Doctor arrived at his house offering his services . He then investigated the crime syndicates which guarded the gang . When he learnt that his brother Sherringford was involved , he accompanied the Doctor to Bombay , where he met Bernice Summerfield . Shortly afterwards , he was supposedly drugged and taken to the portal to Ry ' leh , which they entered riding a Rakshassa . Holmes and Watson helped the Doctor battle the creature posing as the Great Old One known as Azathoth . ( PROSE : " All - Consuming Fire " ) Later in 1887 , Holmes and Watson travelled to Cheldon Bonniface on 24 April 2010 to attend the wedding of Bernice Summerfield and Jason Kane , uncovering the schemes of during the festivities . ( PROSE : " Happy Endings " ) In 1888 , Holmes and Watson met up with Iris Wildthyme and her companion Panda . ( PROSE : " The Shape of Things " ) The Second Doctor claimed to have met Sherlock , ( PROSE : " Heart of TARDIS " ) and the Fifth Doctor called Sherlock an old friend . ( PROSE : " Warmonger " ) The Fifth Doctor lived for a year in a house at 107 Baker Street in Victorian London , down the street from Sherlock ' s famous residence in 221B . ( AUDIO : " The Haunting of Thomas Brewster " ) In 1894 , Holmes investigated the West End Horror and may or may not have encountered the Eighth Doctor at the time . ( PROSE : " The Gallifrey Chronicles " ) In 1911 , Holmes prevented Alexander Korvo from destroying History of Earth Volume 36 , 379 that contained information about a Gomagog invasion of Earth . Unbeknownst to him , he was saved by Iris Wildthyme from being killed by a bomb during this adventure . In 1927 , he attended Korvo ' s funeral , where he encountered Dorian Gray , who foiled Korvo ' s later plan . ( AUDIO : " The Adventure of the Bloomsbury Bomber " , " The Feast of Magog " , " Kronos Vad ' s History of Earth Vol . 36 , 379 " ) At the " twilight of his career , " Holmes had been researching effects of the War , and in the early 20th century , he realised that Earth ' s history was constantly being rewritten . Overwhelmed by the differences and conflicting memories between his world and the new one , Holmes read " The Book of the Enemy " . It erased him from history , and his entire life was turned into fiction . ( PROSE : " The Book of the Enemy " ) The Doctor , when talking about Holmes in his seventh and eighth incarnation s , cryptically hinted at some kind of permeability between " fiction " and " reality " . ( PROSE : " " , " The Gallifrey Chronicles " ) As fiction . After Holmes read " The Book of the Enemy " , his life was erased from history and turned into fiction . ( PROSE : " The Book of the Enemy " ) Arthur Conan Doyle was inspired to invent Sherlock Holmes after meeting the Fourth Doctor in 1880 . The Doctor was wearing a deerstalker and cape and determined events at a crime scene by deductive reasoning and close reading of footprints . ( PROSE : " Evolution " ) After Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a second run of Holmes stories for publication in " The Strand " , he became tired of writing stories about the detective , and wrote a story in which a villain , Moriarty , caused Holmes ' death . This failed to stick . ( COMIC : " Character Assassin " ) During the reign of King Edward VII , Martha Jones met Doyle , who discussed having " killed off " Holmes . ( PROSE : " Revenge of the Judoon " ) In the 1890s , Holmes and Watson ' s adventures were serialised in " The Strand " magazine . Henry Gordon Jago came to believe that he and Professor George Litefoot were the inspiration for the characters . ( AUDIO : " Jago in Love " ) In 1892 , Dr Walter Simeon opined that Conan Doyle was basing his stories on the adventures of Vastra and Jenny Flint . The Eleventh Doctor gained entrance to Dr Simeon ' s Institute by pretending to be Holmes , to the apparent confusion of Dr Simeon ' s assistant . Simeon angrily pointed out to the Doctor that Holmes was a fictional character in " The Strand " . Strax was also familiar with Holmes . ( TV : " The Snowmen " ) When the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher came across an illusion of Sherlock Holmes in his study , the Doctor described Holmes as fictional . ( COMIC : " Funhouse " ) The Eighth Doctor had read " The Hound of the Baskervilles " and quoted the book after being chased by a dog in Dartmoor . ( PROSE : " Camera Obscura " ) Dyslexic child Elliot Northover often listened to audiobooks , including Sherlock Holmes . He once quoted Holmes , saying to Rory Williams , " Once you eliminate the impossible , whatever remains , no matter how improbable , must be the truth . " ( TV : " The Hungry Earth " ) By the age of nine , Melanie Bush had read the entire " Sherlock Holmes " canon . ( AUDIO : " Unregenerate ! " ) In the City of the Saved , Holmes and Watson were the most common Remake s . They collectively bound together to create the Great Detective Agency . ( PROSE : " Of the City of the Saved . . . " ) Legacy . The Ninth Doctor referred to Ali as a " regular Sherlock Holmes , " but as a Karkinian , she didn ' t understand the reference . ( PROSE : " The Beast of Babylon " ) When Brigadier Lethbridge - Stewart demanded the Third Doctor come up with better evidence he couldn ' t dismiss , the Doctor insultingly told the Brigadier that he was " not exactly a little Sherlock Holmes [ himself ] " . ( TV : " Doctor Who and the Silurians " ) General Alexander Bruce told John Matthews that Sherlock Holmes was not a fictional character . ( AUDIO : " The Roof of the World " ) Owen Harper once sarcastically said " No shit Sherlock " to Gwen Cooper when she made on obvious discovery about a Weevil victim . ( TV : " Combat " ) Behind the scenes . Crossovers in other works . The Kim Newman short story collection " Secret Files of the Diogenes Club " , a work which mixes the Sherlock Holmes and other continuities , features Newman ' s creation the Cold from his " Time and Relative " , set in the " Doctor Who " universe . The Doctor , the TARDIS and Holmes ( as well as his brother Mycroft and archnemesis Moriarty ) all co - exist in Alan Moore ' s universe . Big Finish ' s " Sherlock Holmes " . Beginning in 2009 , Big Finish Productions began releasing a range of " Sherlock Holmes " audio dramas . In the first two episodes played an older Holmes reflecting on his past adventures , with Nicholas Briggs playing the detective in more traditional Holmes adventures from episode three onward . Many cast and crew from the Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories have contributed to the range . In 2015 , Big Finish ' s Sherlock Holmes crossed over with elements of the Doctor Who universe in " The Worlds of Big Finish " , which included Bernice Summerfield , Iris Wildthyme , Abby , and Zara . Briggs played Holmes in a " Doctor Who " production once again in the audio adaptation of " All - Consuming Fire " . Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss ' " Sherlock " . In 2010 , Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss created the BBC Wales series " Sherlock " , starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and also featuring Gatiss , Una Stubbs , Rupert Graves , Phil Davis , Russell Tovey , Gemma Chan , Lindsay Duncan , Tim McInnerny and Toby Jones in supporting roles . , it consists of thirteen 90 - minute episodes written by Moffat , Gatiss and Steve Thompson . Matt Smith had auditioned for the role of Watson , but was turned down before Steven Moffat cast him as the Eleventh Doctor . Benedict Cumberbatch was rumoured to have been offered the role of the Eleventh Doctor and turned it down . He denied the rumour , claiming never to have been offered the role . He has expressed his interest in appearing in " Doctor Who " , but said that he doesn ' t want a one - off part . Several reviews of " The Snowmen " have pointed out that a refrain from the theme music for " Sherlock " is heard when the Doctor visits Simeon while impersonating Holmes . The Twelfth Doctor met this version of Sherlock Holmes in " Sprout Boy meets a Galaxy of Stars " . Doctor Who actors who have played Sherlock Holmes in other media . Cleese , McKellen , Pryce , Rupert Everett , Matt Frewer , Christopher Lee , Alfred Molina and Peter O ' Toole , all of whom have played Sherlock Holmes , were all considered for the role of the Eighth Doctor in the TV movie .