Why Has Sherlock Holmes Endured?

That's the question the Telegraph asked. Easy answer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a good writer.

From the piece...

In a convincing article on Holmes last Christmas – when Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock, a more traditional, less witty, Victorian version, came to the cinema – A N Wilson argued that Holmes was such a unique creation that he grew beyond Conan Doyle's control; that he developed characteristics beyond those planned by his creator. Wilson was – like Steven Moffat – convinced that Holmes is gay, even if Conan Doyle didn't intend it that way.

Whether this is or isn't true hardly matters. The thing is, it might be true. Conan Doyle created such a mysterious character – who also had such a range of distinctive characteristics – that he is recognisable in any age, and yet can also be easily moulded into the habits of that age.

There's great pleasure for Holmes buffs, too, in spotting how that modern moulding is done. When Cumberbatch is consumed by a case, it's not a "three-pipe problem" but a "three-patch problem" (he's as keen on cigarettes as he is on cocaine). The Victorian Holmes spotted that Watson's brother was a drunk because there were scratches around the lock of his pocket watch, where he'd tried to open it under the influence; Cumberbatch works it out because there are scratches all around the charging socket in a mobile phone.

Any writer who observes the repeated details of the human condition as closely as this can jump the ages. And any character with universally desirable qualities – like Holmes's powers of deduction – remains eternally attractive.