Sherlock Holmes Has A Lot Of Copycats, But This Detective From An 8-Season Crime Show Might Be The Best One Ever
There have been plenty of TV detectives inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary Sherlock Holmes, but Tony Shalhoub’s Monk could easily be the best of them. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work has had a truly profound effect on fiction in general, and television isn’t excluded. There have been plenty of Sherlock Holmes adaptations put to screen, from Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock to Robert Downey Jr.’s take on the character. Even after over a century, the legendary crime-solver is as popular as ever, and there’s no shortage of brilliant detectives to watch on TV.
While no fictional character can truly replace Sherlock Holmes, many have tried. New police procedurals and mystery shows often find new ways to puzzle their audiences, but there’s still a certain allure to the trends established by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Luckily for any fan of Sherlock Holmes, there have already been plenty of shows inspired by him, and the best one, Monk, has eight seasons and a movie. It’s the perfect show to binge watch, and its nearly endless mysteries will certainly seem familiar to Sherlock fans.
Monk Is One Of Many TV Detectives Inspired By Sherlock Holmes
Everything From House To True Detective Is Inspired By Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Sherlock Holmes is arguably the most famous detective in fiction in general, rivaled only by maybe Hercule Poirot. With such a popular character, it makes sense to harness some of the things that made Sherlock Holmes such a success, and many TV shows have done just that over the years. There are plenty of TV shows that are directly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, like Psych, Luther, House, Bones, True Detective, Monk, and many more. In fact, it’s probably easier to think up detectives who weren’t inspired by Sherlock Holmes; Columbo is the only one that springs to mind.
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These shows all have a few things in common, and they all borrow aspects of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work. They all focus on a central detective who is brilliant and uniquely skilled in the powers of deduction. Most of them have a side character who acts as an assistant and friend like John Watson; in Psych it’s Burton Guster, in Bones it’s Seeley Booth. All of them also focus on outlandish crimes that could never be solved by standard police procedures or lesser minds. Most of them even have some character flaw, such as Sherlock’s addiction to cocaine. The similarities are endless.
Few Sherlock Copycats Capture The Spirit Of Conan Doyle’s Character As Well As Monk
Adrian Is Just As Detail-Oriented & Odd As Sherlock Holmes
Though there are plenty of shows that drew inspiration from Sherlock Holmes, none of them recapture his essence quite as well as Monk. Many of those shows add some new feature to their take on Sherlock: House made Gregory a much meaner and more antisocial person, while True Detective made Rust a moody and grim figure. Monk, on the other hand, feels more like a modernization of Sherlock Holmes rather than a reinterpretation. Adrian is just as sharp, detail-oriented, and odd as Arthur Conan Doyle’s original character. Monk did add in Adrian’s OCD, but it’s his oddness that really cements it as a faithful modernization.
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Monk had numerous beloved and brilliant episodes over its 8 seasons. Many received critical acclaim and even earned the show several accolades.
Other Sherlock Holmes copycats like to make their main detective a bit more relatable than Sherlock Holmes actually was. For example, Shawn in Psych is weird, but he’s also a laidback slacker who never has trouble flirting with women. Adrian always had trouble fitting in with “normal” society in Monk, just as Sherlock Holmes never really became a “normal” person. They both grew over time, but they were also burdened by a genius the rest of the world couldn’t understand in a way that made them outcasts. Sherlock Holmes isn’t meant to be a character who fits in well, and Monk is one of the few shows that understood that.
Just as Sherlock would swoop into Scotland Yard and dazzle everyone with his genius, Adrian Monk regularly stuns Stottlemeyer and Disher with his keen perceptive talents.
The fact that Sherlock Holmes, even in Conan Doyle’s books themselves, was a legendary character makes it clear to see how similar Adrian Monk is to him. Just as Sherlock would swoop into Scotland Yard and dazzle everyone with his genius, Adrian regularly stuns Stottlemeyer and Disher with his keen perceptive talents. Likewise, Sherlock always had an air of superiority to him that Adrian matches perfectly: how many times did Adrian begrudgingly point out something that was completely obvious to him but completely unremarkable to the average person? He’s even an outside consultant for SFPD in the same way Sherlock wasn’t an actual police officer.
Mr. Monk’s Last Case Movie Made The Sherlock Similarities Even More Obvious
Mr. Monk’s Last Case Literally Gave Adrian Another “Watson” In The Form Of A Dog
Monk was always pretty clearly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, but Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie made the comparison even more overt. At the end of Mr. Monk’s Last Case, Adrian’s longtime assistant Natalie gifts him a dog named Watson, a clear reference to Sherlock’s trusty assistant and friend. Sharona and Natalie always filled the role of Adrian’s “John Watson,” but the dog version of Watson serves as a knowing in-joke for everyone who knew Monk was based on Sherlock Holmes. If there’s ever another Monk movie, Adrian may even have two Watsons to assist him.
