Elementary (TV series)

• Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes: A former Scotland Yard consultant who now lives in New York City after completing drug rehabilitation for addiction-related problems. Sherlock is a deductive genius with a variety of unusual interests and enthusiasms that assist him in his investigations. Feeling that the more interesting criminal cases are in America, he stays in New York. He contacts an old associate, Captain Thomas Gregson of the NYPD, to resume his previous work as a consulting detective. He is forced by his father to live with Dr. Joan Watson, his "sober companion" who provides him with aftercare. Miller's Holmes displays many canonical aspects of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character, while his familial relations, especially his resentment for his father, have been added into his narrative. In between seasons 2 and 3, Sherlock spent eight months in Britain working for MI-6. He returned to New York in "Enough Nemesis to Go Around" with a new protégé, Kitty Winter. At the conclusion of season 3, Sherlock suffers a relapse, but his father's connections allow him to resume working for the NYPD. In Season 4, it is revealed in mid-season that his mother, May Holmes, was also an opiate addict like him. In the last few episodes of season 5, he is shown suffering from unexplained headaches and a lack of concentration, as well as hallucinating a woman who is based on his mother; the season 6 premiere episode reveals that he is suffering from post-concussion syndrome, requiring him to be put on a carefully balanced system of medication as well as taking on assorted mental activities to try and help his brain heal, albeit hampered by Sherlock's 'need' to use his work to escape his past addictions. By the beginning of season 7, Sherlock is officially recovered, although he notes that one more hit to his head could have serious consequences for his health. In the penultimate episode of the series, following the murder of his father by Odin Reichenbach, Sherlock has a showdown with Reichenbach in which he fakes his death, which allows Reichenbach to be arrested and later, finally convicted of his numerous crimes. In the series finale, after three years in hiding, he returns after his nemesis/former lover Jamie Moriarty lures him out by making a false threat against Joan's life. He later opts to stay with Joan as she undergoes cancer treatment, and the two partner up again a year later when she recovers. With 24 episodes per season, by the end of season 2, Jonny Lee Miller became the actor who had portrayed Sherlock Holmes the most times in television and/or film, beating Jeremy Brett (with 41 television episodes) and Eille Norwood (with 47 silent films).[2]
• Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson (née Yun): Holmes' sober companion. Watson was a successful surgeon, which adds to her complement of skills. She comes to Holmes when she is hired by his father as his sober companion,[15] to help him remain abstinent after his release from rehabilitation. After her contracted time is finished, she remains on after lying to Sherlock, telling him that his father had continued to retain her services. He comes to rely on her input and grows to trust her as she helps him come to terms with his life after addiction. Eventually, Sherlock reveals that he found out that Joan is no longer being paid to stay as a companion. He offers her a position as an apprentice, telling her how much she means to him and how she helps him to focus. Joan accepts and starts her training as a detective with Sherlock. After Sherlock leaves for London, Joan becomes the go-to consulting detective for the 11th Precinct, while also taking on more traditional private investigator-type cases that Sherlock eschews. Despite this, the two resume working together after Sherlock returns to New York, albeit with Joan taking on the occasional independent case away from Sherlock. Joan has a brother, Oren, and a half-sister, Lin Wen (née Yun). Joan and her half-sister Lin have the same father, but different mothers. In the final two seasons, Joan starts to take steps to becoming a mother, and in the series finale, taking place three years after Sherlock fakes his death to ensure the arrest of Odin Reichenbach, she is revealed to have adopted a son named Arthur. During this time, she has also written and published a book recounting her partnership with Sherlock, and continued to consult for the NYPD. Near the end of the episode, she reveals that she has cancer and is starting chemotherapy, prompting Sherlock to stay with her through her recovery, and she recovers within a year's time.
• Aidan Quinn as Captain Thomas "Tommy" Gregson:[note 1] The Captain of the New York City Police Department's 11th Precinct. He was previously assigned to Scotland Yard to observe their Counter-Terrorism Bureau, where he crossed paths with Sherlock and was impressed with his work. He genuinely likes Sherlock, and the two have a mutual respect for each other, with Sherlock describing Gregson as an investigator he both respects and admires, though Gregson admits that Sherlock is a "pain in the ass". In season 2, Gregson separated from his wife of over 20 years, Cheryl, and they are divorced by season 3. In "Rip Off" (season 3, episode 5), it is revealed that his daughter, Hannah (Liza J. Bennett), is an ambitious patrol officer with the 15th Precinct; by season 6, Hannah has been promoted to Sergeant. In "Absconded" (season 3, episode 23), Gregson is offered a promotion to Deputy Chief due to the good work of his unit, but despite hints that some higher-ups wanted him to accept the offer, he decided to remain, as he valued his current role and ability to interact with people more than the possibilities offered by the promotion. It is also mentioned in that episode that he served at the 14th Precinct as a newly promoted Detective and was made head of the Major Case Squad at age 40. In season 4, it is revealed mid-season that Gregson is now dating Paige Cowen, a former detective who quit the NYPD after her unit was accused of taking bribes; they briefly break up after Joan runs into them at a restaurant, as Paige claims she does not want people to think ill of Gregson, even if she was not involved in her unit's actions, but Joan soon learns that Paige actually has multiple sclerosis and convinces Gregson to give the relationship another chance; the two later marry. During season 6, when Bell was contemplating a transfer, Gregson observed that Holmes, Watson and Bell make a good partnership because Bell stops them from bending the rules too far when they are conducting investigations. In the beginning of season 7, Gregson is shot and wounded while investigation a cold case, which leads to the revelation of a conspiracy helmed by social media mogul Odin Reichenbach. In the series finale, which takes place three years after Reichenbach's arrest, he is revealed to have retired from the NYPD a year earlier, to spend as much time as possible with Paige, who is revealed to have succumbed to her MS some time prior. He is a recipient of the U.S. Flag Bar, World Trade Center Bar, NYPD Medal of Honor, NYPD Medal for Valor, and the NYPD 170th Commemorative Breast Bar.
• Jon Michael Hill as Detective First Grade/Captain Marcus Bell:[21] A junior officer with the 11th Precinct with whom Sherlock and Joan often work. While initially against the idea of getting help from Sherlock, he comes to realize Sherlock's talent as a detective and readily takes advice from him. Gregson explicitly observes that Bell is a good partner for Sherlock and Joan as he recognizes when circumstances require them to bend the rules (such as by entering properties of suspects without legal warrants) without letting them break anything that would compromise later court cases. He was briefly reassigned to an observational role in season 2 after sustaining a potentially serious shoulder injury due to a hostile witness Sherlock had questioned earlier, but a confrontation with Sherlock helped Bell get over the psychological issues that were hindering his recovery and he soon returned to his old role. In season 4, Bell considers taking the Sergeant's exam, not necessarily for the work or to rise up the ranks of the NYPD, but for the increase in paycheck to help support his ailing mother. In season 6, Bell is headhunted by the United States Marshals Service and he decides to put in an application for transfer upon completing his Master's degree in six months. However, he later passes up the job after Sherlock takes the blame for the murder of serial killer Michael Rowan to protect both Joan and Gregson's daughter Hannah from prosecution at the end of the season, and then again when Gregson is shot and critically wounded at the start of season 7 to help investigate the conspiracy. In the series finale, taking place three years after the events of the previous episode, Bell is revealed to have married and become a father, and has been promoted to Captain of the 11th following Gregson's retirement a year earlier. He is a recipient of the U.S. Flag Bar, NYPD Excellent Police Duty, and the NYPD 170th Commemorative Breast Bar.
• John Noble as Morland Holmes (season 4; guest, seasons 6–7): Sherlock's father, who arrives in New York after Sherlock has a relapse. He works as an eminent business consultant, making arrangements for various companies to achieve their goals regardless of what they might be, with Sherlock describing him as a 'neutral' party in that he has no concern about the consequences of his clients' goals so long as they are achieved. He has decided to stay in New York for unknown long-term reasons involving Sherlock, with Joan speculating from independent research that he suffered serious stomach damage in a failed attempt to murder him two years ago, and may believe that he is being targeted again. With a view to resolving the threat, at the end of season 4, he takes over the leadership of Moriarty's organization which will help him to dismantle the group from within and guarantee safety of his son and Joan from any further harm. Morland later returns on two separate occasions: once during season 6, following his older son Mycroft's death where he and Sherlock mend any remaining fences between them, and then again during season 7, where Sherlock recruits his help to bring down Odin Reichenbach. However, after Morland's machinations cripple Reichenbach's company and nearly result in him being ousted, Reichenbach retaliates by having Morland murdered by one of his own associates, setting the stage for a final showdown between Sherlock and Reichenbach.

• Nelsan Ellis as Shinwell Johnson (season 5): A previous patient of Joan and an ex-convict and gang member for the SBK (South Bronx Killas). He and Joan became acquainted once more when he was released from prison and was placed on probation. During his time on probation, Joan helped him settle back into his life outside of prison while also assisting him in his attempt to build a relationship with his daughter. He was briefly an unofficial informant for an FBI agent and is now an official informant for the Bronx Gang Squad. His relationship with Sherlock and Joan faltered when Sherlock discovered that Shinwell was responsible for the death of a friend of his during his original time in the SBK, but Shinwell wrote a confession for this crime as he was preparing to bring down the gang, only to be killed by another member of the SBK.
• Desmond Harrington as Michael Rowan (season 6): A recovering addict who becomes impressed with Sherlock's methods of dealing with his addiction and becomes his friend and leaning post as he tackles a staggering health issue. He is later revealed to be a murderer after burying a woman's body in an unknown location; eventually, he is revealed to be a serial killer, who has killed an estimate of more than a dozen women in multiple states, and has credited Sherlock with convincing him to focus on his "work" (i.e., killing) in order to kick his heroin addiction. When Sherlock's health problems diminish his investigative abilities, Michael leaves New York for a while to allow him to recover. He returns near the end of the season where, after he is revealed to have murdered the addict husband of one of his friends years earlier, he attacks Joan, only to flee after being seriously wounded, and is later found murdered; the murder is later revealed to have been committed by Gregson's daughter Hannah as retaliation for Michael's earlier murder of her roommate.
• James Frain as Odin Reichenbach (season 7): A well-renowned tech mogul that Sherlock and Joan meet after he hires them to find who made a kidnapping threat against his niece. It is soon learned that he made up the entire claim as a way to test the two detectives, believing that he had found kindred spirits within them due to their willingness to go the distance to protect the innocent, and was indirectly responsible for triggering the events that led to Gregson's shooting at the beginning of the season. Odin later reveals to Sherlock his intention to use his infinite resources, both online and offline, in order to create a system that prevents future crimes by flushing out the would-be-perpetrators and having them killed before they can carry out their offenses. However, despite Reichenbach officially wanting to do good, Sherlock feels that his system does not work, citing as an example how he killed a bus driver who was ranting on social media about her plans to kill her passengers; a brief study of the woman's media history confirmed to Sherlock that she had made similar rants in the past at the same time of year and never followed through with any of them. While presenting himself as willing to listen to Sherlock's input, Reichenbach soon proves himself to be extremely ruthless in proving that his system works, to the points of having one of his targets and the target's parents murdered in a staged murder-suicide (after Sherlock had averted the threat by convincing the target to take a non-violent approach to solving his problems), and then later having Sherlock's father Morland murdered after the latter assists his son in crippling Reichenbach's company and nearly getting him ousted. The latter action later results in a showdown between the two, where Sherlock fakes his murder at Reichenbach's hands in order to finally see him arrested for his crimes. In the series finale, taking place three years later, after a lengthy trial, Reichenbach is finally convicted of numerous murders (sans Sherlock's) and other crimes related to his conspiracy, and is sentenced to 148 years in prison.

• Ophelia Lovibond as Kitty Winter: Sherlock's newest protégée whom he brought with him from London after leaving MI6. She was initially tasked with spying on Watson until she was discovered. Sherlock tends to be strict with her, but admires her detective skills. Kitty's real name is unknown as she was kidnapped and raped in London prior to meeting Sherlock and she had changed her name in an effort to forget it. Her character is based on Kitty Winter in Doyle's "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client".[22] After confronting and disfiguring her rapist, she decided she needed to leave the United States to avoid possible arrest, and to go somewhere where she could use the skills that Sherlock and Watson had taught her.
• Ato Essandoh as Alfredo Llamosa: Sherlock's NA sponsor who is a recovering addict himself. Alfredo is also reformed from a life of crime stealing cars. He is now paid by various car companies to test their cars' security systems, and he occasionally lets Sherlock try out his own skills on them. Alfredo is one of Sherlock's few real friends, but is not hesitant to criticize him and pushes him to continue his rehab regimen, including becoming a sponsor himself. He also teaches Joan how to bypass automotive security. Sherlock 'fired' Alfredo as his sponsor so that he could help Alfredo as a friend.
• Rhys Ifans as Mycroft Holmes: Sherlock's older brother who still lives in London. He and Sherlock had a very bitter relationship in the past, but Mycroft is taking steps to reconcile with his brother, and becomes good friends with Joan. He owns a chain of restaurants called Diogenes and is an excellent cook. It is later revealed that Mycroft is in the employ of MI6, and it becomes necessary for Mycroft to fake his death in "The Grand Experiment", an act that Sherlock felt represented a lack of faith in Sherlock to find another solution to the current dilemma. Mycroft is currently confirmed to be dead due to an aneurysm. His last known location was New Zealand and Sherlock briefly grieves for him when he learns of this. He regrets not being able to make up with his brother before his death.
• Natalie Dormer as Irene Adler/Jamie Moriarty: As Irene, she is Sherlock's former lover, while in her true identity as Moriarty she is a criminal mastermind who romanced Sherlock—and then faked Irene's death—to draw his investigations away from her criminal activities. It was her supposed death as Irene that caused Sherlock's already established drug use to escalate. Despite Sherlock discovering her true identity, and her subsequent imprisonment, the two continue to have conflicting feelings for each other — Sherlock noting during a conversation with Bell that "the love of [his] life is an unrepentant homicidal maniac" — and great mutual respect for each other's intellectual powers. She has also gained an amount of respect for Joan, as the latter's ability to fool her is what got her arrested; when Joan's life is threatened by drug kingpin Elana March, she arranges the criminal's death in her cell. At the end of Season 4, Morland Holmes takes over her organization with the goal of dismantling it from within to prevent its resources being used against his son and Joan. She plays a major unseen role in the series finale, supposedly plotting against Sherlock, only for it to turn out to be a false alarm. Three years later, Sherlock attends her funeral, although he expresses doubt that she is actually dead. Series creator Robert Doherty confirmed in an interview that Moriarty is still alive.[23]
• Sean Pertwee as Gareth Lestrade: Sherlock's British colleague and rival. While Sherlock was based in London, he worked with Lestrade, who was then a member of the Metropolitan Police. Lestrade took credit for solving cases that were actually solved by Sherlock. Lestrade is clearly not in Sherlock's league, but he is a skilled — if overzealous and impulsive — detective.
• Candis Cayne as Ms. Hudson: An expert in ancient Greek who essentially makes a living as a kept woman and muse for various wealthy men; Sherlock allows her to stay at the brownstone after a breakup, and she subsequently agrees to clean for them once a week as a source of income. Sherlock initially attempts to make Joan pay for the work, as she complained about his messiness, but she refuses and they settle on sharing the expense. Seen in single episodes in each of the first three seasons (episodes 19, 45, 55), but mentioned in numerous others through season 4.
• Betty Gilpin as Fiona "Mittens" Helbron: a brilliant software engineer for a technology company called Pentillion, who also is known as 'Mittens' in the hacker community. She is on the autism spectrum, and is a cat lover (hence her hacker moniker). She is briefly considered a suspect in one case (episode 81), but later assists Sherlock and Joan in their investigation.[24] She later contacts Joan for assistance in another matter, and begins a romantic relationship with Sherlock (episodes 84 and 90).
• Jordan Gelber as Dr. Eugene Hawes, M.E.: New York City medical examiner that provides Sherlock and Joan with details relating to murders that cross paths with their investigations. He and Sherlock are regular chess partners ("the first Thursday of the month" is mentioned in the episode "Hounded"). After he is almost killed when a bomb is detonated in the city morgue ("Down Where the Dead Delight"), he develops an addiction to drugs. After noticing the indicators, Sherlock implores him to get him some help ("Hounded"). He takes a leave of absence to recover, but returns to active duty as the M.E. in the season 5 episode "Ill Tidings"

Liu was cast by February 2012.[26] That July, she said that Watson is not "someone who's on the sideline; she's his sober companion, she's engaged in him, not the mystery, [...] From that point on you get to see how that blossoms out. The foot-in-the-bucket and that kind of Watson happens because in entertainment, there's got to be a sidekick. In this case, that's not the direction we're going in. Ask me in six episodes and if I have a foot in a bucket then we'll have a discussion."[27]

Sherlock, a contemporary reworking of the Sherlock Holmes story, premiered in the UK in July 2010 and in the U.S. in October 2010. The British show has since sold to more than 200 territories. In January 2012, shortly after CBS's announcement they had ordered the pilot for Elementary, Sherlock producer Sue Vertue told newspaper The Independent, "we understand that CBS are doing their own version of an updated Sherlock Holmes. It's interesting, as they approached us a while back about remaking our show. At the time, they made great assurances about their integrity, so we have to assume that their modernised Sherlock Holmes doesn't resemble ours in any way, as that would be extremely worrying."[28] The following month Vertue said that "We have been in touch with CBS and informed them that we will be looking at their finished pilot very closely for any infringement of our rights."[29]

CBS made a statement on the issue: "Our project is a contemporary take on Sherlock Holmes that will be based on Holmes, Watson and other characters in the public domain, as well as original characters. We are, of course, respectful of all copyright laws and will not infringe on any stories or works that may still be protected."[29]

Creator Robert Doherty discussed comparisons between Sherlock and Elementary the following July, pointing out that a tradition of updated Holmes stories dates back to the Basil Rathbone films of the 1940s, and that he did not think it was the case that Elementary took anything from Sherlock, which he described as a "brilliant show" having watched its first series.[25] Several months later, Lucy Liu confirmed the producers of the UK Sherlock were shown the pilot, "saw how different it was from theirs," and were "okay with it now."[1]