Have you ever taken an interest in the mystery and suspense genre of television? Does the story of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson interest you?

The BBC series Sherlock is perfect if you like mystery dramas, but don’t want something that is completely based on the original series Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this fairly modern interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, he is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, and he is a private investigator. However, Sherlock does not like to be called this and instead makes a new moniker for himself: consulting detective. Some of the characters in the story see him as nothing more than a sociopath, while others see a genius. It matters not, though, as Sherlock doesn’t care for their opinions and instead lets his ability to solve every case with ease do the talking.

One of the premises of the show is this contrasting viewpoint on Sherlock’s skills as a detective. As the viewer, we are able to view the world through Sherlock’s eyes, eyes that see every little detail that a normal person may miss or look away from and push to the back of their mind. Sherlock misses none of these minor details as he pushes closer and closer to solving each puzzle. From the lint on a woman’s jacket to scratch marks on a door handle, Sherlock’s mind pieces each of these together to solve the crime and capture the culprit.

While the series is named after and based on the legendary Sherlock Holmes, the point of view in the BBC program is almost always coming from John Watson, played by Martin Freeman, Sherlock’s friend and the assistant in all of his cases. Watson was originally a war doctor and being with Sherlock makes him feel as though he is back on the battlefield with every new mystery that comes their way. While Sherlock seems to do everything with childlike excitement, Watson slows him down and reminds him that not everyone thinks on the same wavelength as him.

Sherlock creates many enemies as he is solving his mysteries. The most nefarious being James Moriarty, also a super-genius, who seems to match Sherlock’s level of intellect. From stealing the queen’s crown to making everyone believe Sherlock’s genius is fake, Moriarty will stop at nothing to end the consulting detective’s career.

Streaming on Netflix, each of the four seasons of the show contains three episodes with each episode ranging from an hour to an hour and a half in length depending on the seriousness of the case Sherlock and Watson are solving. The show has been popular on

Netflix because the interesting characters and thought-provoking plot twists make it worth one’s while. For this reason the BBC series gets 9.7 out of 10 stars.