History Main / BakerStreetRegular

The Baker Street Regular is a pun on the TropeNamer, the Baker Street Irregulars, a mob of orphaned street urchins often employed by Sherlock Holmes to gather rumors, spy, and do various odd jobs. In return for their discretion and loyalty he paid what was, [[MundaneLuxury to them, an outrageous sum of money]].

* Subverted in ''Manga/BlackButler''. Doll, aside from not being the eldest (though that is justified due to her elder "siblings" being GenreBlind), gives Ciel help, covers for him, and fits this trope to a T [[spoiler: before Ciel goes into an episode and orders for her death.]]

* As the plot approaches the end of ''[[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Slayers Next]]'', one of these attempts to pickpocket the party, but eventually joins them and befriends Martina. Subverted, as [[spoiler:he's the BigBad.]]

-> ''At this moment there was a loud ring at the bell, and I could hear Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.\\

* Subverted in ''Film/TheArrival'' [[spoiler:when the kid who hooks up with the protagonist turns out to be a spy sent by the aliens. In fact he's an alien himself.]]

** Sometimes members of the Beggar's Guild, although largely adults and therefore on the very fringes of the trope, act as this for Lord Vetinari as one of many information-gathering channels (it's implied that someone who may in some small way be connected to him spreads rumors that he pays for information, so that they'll come volunteer it to him instead of him needing to send someone looking). It's implied Vimes occasionally gets information from them as well.

* Ben Fischer had apparently started as this in his {{backstory}} in ''Literature/HellHouse'', before his powers awakened.

* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' while on a secret mission to Mesa, Victor Cachat employees a number of street urchins to serve as a spies and couriers. The Mesan organized crime bosses also employ lots of these. And Victor himself served as one to Noveau Paris' criminal elements in his youth.

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfShirleyHolmes'': Shirley and Bo won't hesitate to recruit Alicia, Bart and/or Stink as this if the case requires their assistance. On rare occasions [[EnemyMine even Molly will become one]] if her goals align with Shirley's.

* ''Series/KamenRider'' and ''Series/KamenRiderV3'' had the Boys' Kamen Rider Squad, a fanclub consisting mostly of preteen boys who would contact the heroes via radio if they spotted suspicious activity.

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfShirleyHolmes: Shirley and Bo won't hesitate to recruit Alicia, Bart and/or Stink as this if the case requires their assistance. On rare occasions [[EnemyMine even Molly will become one]] if her goals align with Shirley's.

* Series/KamenRiderDouble, who actually ''is'' a detective, has a network of informants he calls the Fuuto Irregulars; however, none of them really fit this trope. The closest it gets is with Queen and Elizabeth, a pair of [[{{Joshikousei}} high school students]] who were already informants for Shotaro before coming to him with a case partway through the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamByGaslight'' shows Alfred employing the [[Characters/NightwingDickGrayson Ro]][[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd bi]][[Characters/RobinSeriesTimDrake ns]] as this trope, unrelated to Bruce saving them from their gang boss at the start of the movie.

* In ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko, the Detective Boys. They're even referred to as Baker Street Irregulars in an arc. They ''literally'' play this when they entered the {{cyberspace}} Victorian England AU in the NonSerialMovie ''Phantom of Baker Street''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SherlockHolmesInTheTwentySecondCentury'' has the new Baker Street Irregulars: soccer player Wiggins, the Eliza Doolittleish Deidre, and the paraplegic Tennyson (who communicates through electronic beeps only Holmes seems to comprehend).

* ''WesternAnimation/SherlockHolmesInTheTwentySecondCentury'' has the new Baker Street Irregulars: soccer player Wiggins, the Eliza Doolittleish Deidre, and the paraplegic Tennyson (who communicates through electronic beeps only Holmes seems to comprehend ironically).

* ComicBook/TheNewsboyLegion are nothing if not this trope. Primarily they are this for the ComicBook/{{Guardian}}, but they also work with ComicBook/JimmyOlsen and Franchise/{{Superman}} and Guardian took them in and became their legal guardian in his secret identity.

* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' while on a secret mission to Mesa, Victor Cachat employees a number of street urchins to serve as a spies and couriers.
** The Mesan organized crime bosses also employ lots of these. And Victor himself served as one to Noveau Paris' criminal elements in his youth.

* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' while on a secret mission to Mesa Victor Cachat employees a number of street urchins to serve as a spies and couriers.

-> ''At this moment there was a loud ring at the bell, and I could hear Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.\\
"By heavens, Holmes," I said, half rising, "I believe that they are really after us."\\
"No, it's not quite so bad as that. It is the unofficial force -- the Baker Street irregulars."\\
As he spoke, there came a swift pattering of naked feet upon the stairs, a clatter of high voices, and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street Arabs. There was some show of discipline among them, despite their tumultuous entry, for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. One of their number, taller and older than the others, stood forward with an air of lounging superiority which was very funny in such a disreputable little scarecrow.''
-->-- ''Literature/SherlockHolmes: The Sign of the Four'' (Doubleday p. 126)

As he spoke, there came a swift pattering of [[BarefootPoverty naked feet]] upon the stairs, a clatter of high voices, and in rushed [[StreetUrchin a dozen dirty and ragged little street Arabs]]. There was some show of discipline among them, despite their tumultuous entry, for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. One of their number, taller and older than the others, stood forward with an air of lounging superiority which was very funny in such a disreputable little scarecrow.''

*** Nobby Nobbs is introduced in ''Discworld/NightWatch'' as one of these. Vimes sees Nobby spying on him for a whole slew of people, and begins paying Nobby to, in turn, spy on them.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/large_irregularsscene.jpg]]

-> ''At this moment there was a loud ring at the bell, and I could hear Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.''
->''"By heavens, Holmes," I said, half rising, "I believe that they are really after us."''
->''"No, it's not quite so bad as that. It is the unofficial force - the Baker Street irregulars."''
->''As he spoke, there came a swift pattering of [[BarefootPoverty naked feet]] upon the stairs, a clatter of high voices, and in rushed [[StreetUrchin a dozen dirty and ragged little street Arabs]]. There was some show of discipline among them, despite their tumultuous entry, for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. One of their number, taller and older than the others, stood forward with an air of lounging superiority which was very funny in such a disreputable little scarecrow.''
-->-- '''Literature/SherlockHolmes''' in ''The Sign of the Four'' (Doubleday p. 126)

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* As the plot approaches the end of ''[[{{LightNovel/Slayers}} Slayers Next]]'', one of these attempts to pickpocket the party, but eventually joins them and befriends Martina. Subverted, as [[spoiler: he's the BigBad.]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

** Deconstructed in the officially-approved pastiche ''Literature/TheHouseOfSilk'', when [[spoiler: one of them gets killed, brutally, because they took a mission]].

* Nobby Nobbs is introduced in ''Discworld/NightWatch'' as one of these. Vimes sees Nobby spying on him for a whole slew of people, and begins paying Nobby to, in turn, spy on them. Sometimes members of the Beggar's Guild, although largely adults and therefore on the very fringes of the trope, act as this for Lord Vetinari as one of many information-gathering channels (it's implied that someone who may in some small way be connected to him spreads rumors that he pays for information, so that they'll come volunteer it to him instead of him needing to send someone looking). It's implied Vimes occasionally gets information from them as well.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* Dick Tracy, Jr, from ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'', is one of the examples of a street urchin who gets adopted. Also appears in the film.
* ''ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise'': Samantha 'Sam' Brown is an East End kid who attends a martial arts class run by Willie. She and her gang of street urchins sometimes fill this role for Willie and Modesty.

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* Billy, the page boy to William Gillette's ''Theatre/SherlockHolmes'', who was adapted from a similar character in the original Holmes novels.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''Series/DirkGently'' knows a [[HollywoodHacking Hollywood Hacker]] who happens to be twelve. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments And gets paid with cigarettes.]]

* Fittingly for a reimagining of Sherlock Holmes himself, ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' has Bill Wiggins, a heroin addict who doubles as a chemistry genius.
** The TropeNamer also does not go un-riffed; the pilot episode introduces Sherlock's "homeless network," who are an obvious stand-in for the Irregulars. He also once gets information on the spray-can used to paint a cryptic message on a wall from a graffiti artist [[WildMassGuessing who some fans think]] is supposed to be Creator/{{Banksy}}, if not a cameo from the ''real'' Banksy AsHimself.

** ''Series/KamenRiderSuper1'' had the Junior Rider Team, but they were more an example of {{Tagalong Kid}}s, trying to investigate things on their own, getting captured, and needing to be rescued by Super-1.
** Series/KamenRiderDouble, who actually ''is'' a detective, has a network of informants he calls the Fuuto Irregulars; however, none of them really fit this trope. The closest it gets is with Queen and Elizabeth, a pair of [[{{Joshikousei}} high school students]] who were already informants for Shotaro before coming to him with a case partway through the series.

* ComicBook/TheNewsboyLegion are nothing if not this trope. Primarily they are this for ComicBook/TheGuardian, but they also work with ComicBook/JimmyOlsen and Franchise/{{Superman}}.

* Luke and, to a lesser extent, Flora in the ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games are variations on this trope. Flora mostly fits in the sense of being [[spoiler:an orphan who gets adopted by the protagonist]], though she ''tries'' to be useful in the Professor's investigations. Luke plays the trope almost straight; however, his parents are still alive and perfectly comfortable financially, and he must [[spoiler:surrender the post at the end of the third game, when the family moves overseas]]. In fact, it's thanks to his parents that Luke is hanging around in the first place -- Clark Triton is an old friend of the Professor's, which probably explains why they're willing to let a grown man take their preteen son gallivanting off to solve mysteries impeded by hordes of people who insist you use thirteen coins to spell "waffle".