17. Nicol Williamson
Nicol Williamson played a manic, troubled Holmes in a very different adaptation – The Seven-Per-Cent Solution sees Holmes examined by famed psychologist Sigmund Freud who endeavours to uncover the detective’s dark past.
16. Ian Richardson
Respected thespian Ian Richardson (who starred in the original House of Cards) starred as Sherlock in two TV films in the 80s. He also played Holmes’s real-life inspiration – Dr Joseph Bell – in the 2002 series Murder Rooms.
15. Tom Baker
Former Doctor Who Tom Baker swapped his long scarf for a deerstalker in a TV mini series based on The Hound of the Baskervilles. Interestingly, Baker plays a more subdued and serious Holmes than you might expect.
14. Christopher Lee
Horror icon Lee played Sherlock Holmes three times over his long and illustrious career – once in 1960s Italian film Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace and in two TV movies featuring an older Holmes in the 1990s.