Characters / Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

Heroes

Sherlock Holmes

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Not the arrogant jerk he's depicted in canon or most adaptations.
• Back from the Dead: Lestrade brings him back to life to deal with the cloned Moriarty, as no one else could.

• Catchphrase: "Elementary, My Dear Watson", "When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth", and "Eyes and brains!"
• Character Development: He goes from rejecting Watson to embracing him wholeheartedly in the span of two episodes. Plus, his relationship with Beth develops subtly throughout the series.

• Fat and Skinny: The skinny to Watson's chunky physique.

• Genre Savvy: To the point of reading up on Dracula when dealing with a vampire.
• Ghostwriter: It is revealed shortly after he's woken up in the future that Sherlock Holmes actually penned a series of mystery novels under a pseudonym. The name? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
• The Hero: Becomes an action hero with the episodes following him on his investigations even when he's working alone.

• Insufferable Genius: He's much nicer than he was in his youth, but he still has his moments.
• It's Personal: If it's Watson, absolutely. Lestrade quickly reaches this status, as well.
• Jumped at the Call: Threw himself right into his first case.

• Like a Duck Takes to Water: After being brought back to life, he quickly adjusts to the 22nd Century and is just as good of a detective as he was in the Victorian Era.
• Master of Disguise: So much so that he can fake different American accents. Of course, elastomasks also help, especially as many of his disguises are real people.

• Older Than They Look: Both chronologically and biologically. For the former, the show takes place in the 22nd century, 200 years after Holmes originally died. For the latter, the process that revived him restored him from an old man into his physical prime.
• Resurrected for a Job: The cloned Moriarty proved too much for New Scotland Yard to handle, so Lestrade had him resurrected because he's the only one who can match him.

• Stay in the Kitchen: Played with. On the one hand, he's shocked at "women in charge" being a development in the 22nd century and asks what the world's coming to. He also balks at the notion of working under Lestrade. On the other, he never suggests that Lestrade ought not be an inspector on account of her gender and believes her quite capable of handling a rabble of thugs on her own.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Holmes is noticeably softer in the show, when compared to his younger self in the Sherlockian Canon.

Inspector Beth Lestrade

• Action Girl: She's quite a formidable woman, not above kicking in doors or taking down suspects herself, and handy with an ionizer besides.
• Badass in Distress: In spite of her being possibly the more physically formidable and definitely the more aggressive of the two, she does occasionally end up needing to be saved by Holmes.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Done once with a puzzle box laced with Nanomachines.

• Destructive Saviour: Grayson reads a laundry List of Transgressions inflicted in the process of catching Fenwick in the first episode, and it's implied it isn't the first time her enthusiasm for catching criminals has come at a price.
• Drives Like Crazy: Demonstrated a fair number of times over the course of the show, enough to be gently snarked on the topic by Holmes.

• Gender Flip: A female version of Mr. G. Lestrade.
• Hot-Blooded: Lestrade is quite unrestrained in her emotions, as a contrast to the calm and genteel Holmes.
• Inspector Lestrade: Literally in name, and like her ancestor she starts off making some hot-headed presumptions in cases as to who is guilty of what. That tendency smooths out over the course of the show.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": She is both an officer of the law and a devoted admirer of Holmes' talent for outwitting criminals. Enough to suggest revivification to a highly skeptical Chief Grayson.
• Last-Name Basis: Very rarely does someone use her first name. The amount of episodes where Sherlock refers to her as Beth could be counted on one hand.
• Legacy Character: Of a sort. She is directly related to the original Inspector Lestrade and assumes a similar role to the first as Holmes' point of contact with Scotland Yard and actual figure of authority in a case. Her relationship is much less vitriolic than the original relationship between Holmes and Lestrade.
• Limited Wardrobe: The only time she's not in her New Scotland Yard uniform is when she's driven crazy by nanobots in "The Adventure of the Deranged Detective". Even when visiting a friend, she's still wearing it.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Partially justified given it's been hundreds of years since the time of her ancestor, but Beth is one of the only members of New Scotland Yard who lacks an accent fitting someone in Europe.
• The Not-Love Interest: She's the only female in the main cast and is working alongside and butting heads with Holmes, but the two share no romantic interest.
• Trigger-Happy: Lestrade draws her ionizer at the earliest opportunity in many cases. Fortunately she tends to holds her fire if innocents are in the way. When she only has to worry about a suspect, she doesn't hesitate to fire.
• Turn in Your Badge: Threatens to do this to Grayson and take her story of a revivified Sherlock Holmes to the news to make New Scotland Yard look like they were shirking their duty to help the public by ignoring potential assistance.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Her stance on New Scotland Yard's limitations, and Grayson's inflexibility especially.

Watson

• Badass Longcoat: He is commonly seen wearing a large greatcoat that covers all but his feet and forearms.
• The Big Guy: Largest of the three protagonists and the strongest due to being a robot.
• Do-Anything Robot: He seems to always have just the right scanning function or tool for the job at hand.
• Everything Sensor
• Fat and Skinny: The fat to Holmes'd skinny. Explicitly stated in-universe by Holmes as sharing a somewhat potbellied appearance with his namesake, the original John Watson.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: In at least one instance, he coughs due to a cloud of smoke. The robot below the elasto-mask has neither mouth nor lungs.

• Robot Me: In an interesting variation, the robot consciously chose to model himself on Holmes's old friend.

• The Watson: Goes back and forth on this; occasionally he asks questions to give Holmes a chance to reveal what he has discovered, but will also bounce his own deductions and inferences off Holmes.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: "The Fall And Rise of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Crime Machine" let Holmes explore his relationship with Watson. "The Five Orange Pips" revolves around this trope.

Chief Inspector Grayson

Voiced by: William Sabatier (European French)

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• Arbitrary Skepticism: No matter how many times he sees Sherlock Holmes crack a case, pick up on facts no one else noticed, and solve crimes, he constantly refuses to believe that Holmes is any help at all.
• By-the-Book Cop/Lawful Stupid: Grayson straddles the line of this due to his unwillingness to deviate from police procedure for even a moment.
• Da Chief: Of course.
• Fat Idiot: His portrayal, albeit probably not intentionally so by the writers. Comes across as this, as the result of his combination of husky build (with an obvious paunch) and his incompetence in the course of fighting crime, including once being Moriarty's Unwitting Pawn to provide an alibi for a crime. He was also introduced getting an elasto-mask of an old woman stuck on his head.
• Large and in Charge: Physically a large man, and commands New Scotland Yard.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: His adherence to the rules and declarations of limits hinder investigations of cases more than helps them.
• Police Are Useless: He may mean well in his lawfulness, but is chronically unhelpful.
• Turn in Your Badge: Does this at least once to Lestrade. It doesn't take.

The Irregulars

Wiggins

• Hidden Depths/Smarter Than You Look: In spite of his somewhat thuggish mode of dress, he winds up demonstrating enough talent and astuteness at their first meeting to impress Holmes.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Once a talented football (soccer) player until an injury put an end to his sport ambitions. He has since taken up boxing.
• Photographic Memory: According to a poster of the characters.
• Southpaw Advantage: Holmes pegs him as a lefty in their first meeting, which can be beneficial for an amateur boxer.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Always seen in a sleeveless duster.
• The Yardies: Black and an implied juvenile delinquent, albeit a Lighter and Softer version to the point of general harmlessness.

Deidre

• Black Market: Implied to deal with this, as she's a con artist and a fence.
• Con Girl: Specifically, Little Miss Con Artist.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: There is something quite amiss in a twelve year old girl who knows where to sell varieties stolen goods of high value.
• Younger Than They Look: According to the character poster, she's twelve!

Tennyson

• Child Prodigy: According to the character poster, a computer and mathematics genius.
• Cool Mask: Always seen with a blue mask over his nose and mouth.
• Genius Cripple: Math wizard, brilliant hacker, always seen in a hovering wheelchair analogue.
• Goggles Do Nothing
• Hollywood Cyborg: He's never seen out of his hoverchair, and we've never even seen him below the waist. The size of his chair versus Tennyson's upper body implies that he may not have legs.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Speaks in beeps, warbles, and musical tones, but is understood by Holmes and the Irregulars.
• Playful Hacker: Can break into computers easily, but is never malicious about it.
• Super Wheelchair: It hovers and is loaded with computer tech for hacking purposes.
• Younger Than They Look: The youngest of the Irregulars, at eleven.

Villains

Professor James Moriarty

• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the original series, Moriarty was a older man with a bald head and a more gaunt appearance. In this adaptation, he has a full head of hair and a roguishly handsome appearance.
• Adaptational Villainy: As befitting to many adaptations, he's much more dangerous and active than his literary counterpart.
• Affably Evil: Can be a gentleman and quite casually so. It's almost a little creepy, as befits the original character.
  • In his initial appearance, this leads to a I Kiss Your Hand moment with Beth, who is not amused.
• Archenemy: Sherlock's most dangerous foe, or at least a clone of his, remains this even centuries after their time.
• Badass Longcoat: Favors a cobalt-blue trenchcoat while doing his own dirty work.
• Beard of Evil: A goatee, to be exact.
• Big Bad/The Man Behind the Man: There are very few episodes that don't feature Moriarty as the mastermind behind the scenes.
• The Chessmaster
• Deadpan Snarker/Tall, Dark, and Snarky
• Diabolical Mastermind: He's wouldn't be Moriarty if he wasn't. He's so intelligent and successful that the only way that New Scotland Yard stands a chance against him is by resurrecting Sherlock Holmes. He also dwarfs all the other villains in the series in terms of threat level, often going for potential world domination where other villains are going for simple revenge or robberies.
• Even Evil Has Standards: According to Moriarty in "Five Orange Pips," he doesn't want people getting hurt as he takes over the world. To be fair, he generally sticks to this rule, with the exception of "Baskerville" early on in the game.
• Eviler than Thou: He proved this to Fenwick before the series started. Fenwick cloned Moriarty to be his second-in-command, only for Moriarty to usurp him and make him his second-in-command. Played With, however, in that while Moriarty outclasses him in every other area, Fenwick lacks Moriarty's redeeming qualities.
• Evil Genius: Positively brilliant, considered Holmes' equal, and as dedicated to committing crimes as Holmes is to solving them.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Fenwick cloned him to be The Dragon to him...only for Moriarty to be far more intelligent and dangerous than he could ever hope to be.
• Evil Laugh
• Hidden Villain: For the first couple of episodes.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The way he tends to get his due.
• Knight of Cerebus: Moriarty is in a completely different league than the majority of the show's villains and any of his schemes have much higher stakes. Whereas the average criminal wants money, revenge, or such, Moriarty is after world domination, replacing world leaders, and kidnapping the richest man on the planet.
• Large Ham: "But of course!"
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Moriarty’s impressive build never stops the sleeker Holmes from mopping the floor with him. Though Moriarty seems to realize this and tries to avoid a physical fight with him.
• Skunk Stripe: Has a stripe of white hair splitting through the middle of his black hair.
• The Starscream: He accomplishes this offscreen. Originally cloned to be Fenwick's accomplice, he upstages Fenwick as the true criminal mastermind.
• Surrounded by Idiots: States this on several occasions. He's normally right, as often Sherlock only gets onto him because one of his minions made a slip up that exposed their crimes.
• Took a Level in Badass: This is a man who enjoys getting his hands dirty and enjoys sparring verbally and physically with Holmes, quite unlike the reclusive intellectual of the Canon.
  • It does make sense, though, as this Moriarty is a clone of the original created by Fenwick, who was supposed to serve as his Dragon. Presumably, there was some manipulation involved to make him more suited to the task.
• We Will Meet Again

Dr. Martin Fenwick

• Brainwashed: Fenwick brought Moriarty back to life to work for him, but it is surmised by Holmes, who muses that Fenwick's thoughts are "no longer his own", that Moriarty somehow turned the tables on Fenwick and did something to his mind that made Fenwick slavishly devoted to Moriarty, who Fenwick refers to as "The Master."
• Demoted to Dragon: After his clone of Moriarty upstages him
• The Dragon: To Moriarty. He resurrected Moriarty to be his dragon but underestimated just how intelligent and powerful Moriarty actually was and ended up being the one taking orders.
• French Jerk: Stated to be a native of Neo-Paris.
• Gonk: He has the most blatantly ugly mug in the series, to the point of seeming inhuman—and this is a series where both a massive cat-man and a snakeman have shown up in episodes!
• The Igor: Fenwick is an immoral but skilled scientist with looks not to be envied: pale skin, mismatched eyes, an upturned nose, a bald head, and a massive underbite. One of his greatest achievements is bringing Professor James Moriarty back to life, but whatever goals Fenwick meant to accomplish, they fell through when Moriarty made the latter subservient to him. In line with the usuals of the Igor archetype, Fenwick refers to Moriarty as "Master".
• Just a Stupid Accent: Speaks grammatically correct English with a terrible French accent. Holmes once catches him because of his inability to hide his distinctive accent.
• Mad Scientist: Fenwick is a rogue geneticist wanted for numerous crimes. This includes bringing Moriarty back to life.
• Poirot Speak: Occasionally peppers his speech with random stereotypical French phrases.
• Sssssnake Talk: While he lacks the reptile motif, his accent and inability to enunciate leads to this.
• Undying Loyalty: Even though Moriarty treats him like complete crap, constantly belittling him and abandoning him as soon as it becomes convenient to do so, Fenwick is unwavering in his servitude to the man, even being willing to draw fire and allow himself be captured just to give Moriarty more time to escape from New Scotland Yard.

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