I just finished reading a good detective novel by a new Brit author, Michael Robotham.  The book is called 'Lost'.  Homicide Detective Vincent Ruiz is one of those great renegade detectives with a deep sadness in his soul. Makes you want to gather him in and heal him .  Anyway, the story is set in London, and while not based on Sherlock Holmes, Ruiz has a friend, clinical psychologist Joe O'Loughlin, who has a lot of Sherlock's deduction capabilities. It's a good read.

To answer the question of what is based on Holmes:

- House : Dr House uses drugs, lives in apartment 221B, is obnoxiously rude, has a friend/confidante called James Wilson (JW), has a female patient called Adler in the first episode & has a patient called Moriarty in series 2 who tries to kill him.

- In Monk, his detective skills came from his father reading Holmes to him each night, he ended up solving the crimes from the book much earlier than was expected. There's a police captain called Leland Stottlemeyer who is similar to Lestrade; there are 2 female assistants who are like Watson, he has a brother Ambrose who is equivalent to Mycroft & his name is odd sounding, like Holmes's

- CSI- Crime Scene Investigation has a character called Gil Grissom who is based on Holmes. Has weird body parts in his refrigerator, goes to extremes using logic to deduce things, has a nemesis called Paul Millander (Prof Moriarty) who chases after him, and interacts with a woman call Lady Heather, a dominatrix no less!

- Batman uses Holmes logic & reasoning & was loosely based on Holmes. Robin would be the equivalent of Watson; Alfred the equivalent of Mrs Hudson (although initially was used as the equivalent of Watson); Catwoman possibly the equivalent of Irene and the Joker could be equivalent to Moriarty (interesting that Andrew Scott based his Moriarty on Heath Ledger's Joker)

- The Mentalist : Patrick Jane is largely based on Holmes, has a nemesis in Red John, has a side kick in Lisbon.

- Bobby Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent


There will be many others, as it is commonly accepted that nearly ALL fictional detectives have something 'Holmesian' about them.
I can't see a connection with Professor Higgins myself, but those things are in the eye of the beholder one assumes.

kazza474 wrote:

To answer the question of what is based on Holmes:

- House : Dr House uses drugs, lives in apartment 221B, is obnoxiously rude, has a friend/confidante called James Wilson (JW), has a female patient called Adler in the first episode & has a patient called Moriarty in series 2 who tries to kill him.

- In Monk, his detective skills came from his father reading Holmes to him each night, he ended up solving the crimes from the book much earlier than was expected. There's a police captain called Leland Stottlemeyer who is similar to Lestrade; there are 2 female assistants who are like Watson, he has a brother Ambrose who is equivalent to Mycroft & his name is odd sounding, like Holmes's

- CSI- Crime Scene Investigation has a character called Gil Grissom who is based on Holmes. Has weird body parts in his refrigerator, goes to extremes using logic to deduce things, has a nemesis called Paul Millander (Prof Moriarty) who chases after him, and interacts with a woman call Lady Heather, a dominatrix no less!

- Batman uses Holmes logic & reasoning & was loosely based on Holmes. Robin would be the equivalent of Watson; Alfred the equivalent of Mrs Hudson (although initially was used as the equivalent of Watson); Catwoman possibly the equivalent of Irene and the Joker could be equivalent to Moriarty (interesting that Andrew Scott based his Moriarty on Heath Ledger's Joker)

- The Mentalist : Patrick Jane is largely based on Holmes, has a nemesis in Red John, has a side kick in Lisbon.

- Bobby Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent


There will be many others, as it is commonly accepted that nearly ALL fictional detectives have something 'Holmesian' about them.
I can't see a connection with Professor Higgins myself, but those things are in the eye of the beholder one assumes.

This paper compares Higgins and Holmes. You might be surprised to see how many similarities there are: http://www.wakayama-nct.ac.jp/gakka/ippan/ippan-staff/morikawa/GBS_Japan/mythslegendsinPygmalion.pdf

To answer the original question, my favorite is House by a long shot. I actually was a huge fan of that show (and Hugh Laurie) long before I jumped on the Sherlock Holmes bandwagon. Then first Sherlock Holmes movie (Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law) came out and my boyfriend at the time dragged me to it on the premise that I would "see similarities between Dr. House and Wilson." I loved the movie, and so it began.

The problem is, since I've discovered Sherlock, I don't like any of them as much as before.
(Not that I know all of them, just wanted to mention...  )

SusiGo wrote:

I really like House but not as much as Sherlock. Not least because his relationship to Wilson lacks the wonderful charm of the friendship between Sherlock and John.

Agreed. I love both Robert Sean Leonard and Hugh Laurie though.