Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes was a male human detective from 19th century England who has on several occasions become embroiled in the adventures of the Doctor and those of others from the Doctor's sphere of interest such as Bernice Summerfield and Faction Paradox.
Fictional/Metafictional Status
Holmes is widely believed to be a fictional character created by Arthur Conan Doyle (PDA: The Murder Game, EDA: Genocide, EDA: The Bodysnatchers). Even those who've made his aquaintance, such as Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart still seem to regard him as not-quite real (BFBS: The Final Amendment).
One explanation for this is that, while Holmes and his friend John Watson were indeed authentic historical figures, 'Holmes and Watson' were not thier real names. 'Watson' fictionalised his experiences with the great detective and published them through his literary agent Arthur Conan Doyle to whom the stories came to be attributed (NA: All-Consuming Fire). To further disguise the identity of his clients, Conan Doyle instructed his illustrators to dress 'Holmes' in the deerstalker and cape the Doctor had been wearing when the writer met him in 1880 (MA: Evolution).
In accordance with this, the most substantial information regarding Holmes' encounters with the Doctor and his companions has been provided in the subjective form of diary entiries writen by Bernice Summerfield and John Watson (NA: All-Consuming Fire, Happy Endings).
There is however, evidence to suggest more radical implications to the Doctor's aquaintance with Holmes. Prior to her own meeting with the detective, Ace mentioned Holmes' fictionality and was told by the Doctor that "Just because someone's fictional doesn't mean you can't meet them" (NA: Timewyrm: Revelation). The Doctor went further still when Anji Kapoor insisted Holmes wasn't real, telling her that "one of the things you'll learn is that it's all real. Every word of every novel is real, every frame of every movie, every panel of every comic strip" (EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles). Given that the same adventure saw the Doctor briefly apprehend his own fictionality and saw evidence surface to suggest he has met Harry Potter, another character known to be fictional (DW: The Shakespeare Code), it may be that Holmes' presence in the Doctor's universe reveals something fundamental about its nature.
Biography
Early in his career a murder investigation led Holmes to become involved with the intrigues of Faction Paradox and the Celestis (FP: Erasing Sherlock).
The Doctor lived for a year as practically a neighbor of Holmes as he abided in a house at 107 Baker Street in Victorian London (BFA: The Haunting of Thomas Brewster).
In 1887, Holmes and Watson assisted the Doctor in battling Azathoth (NA: All-Consuming Fire).
Later that year, they travelled to 2010 to attend the wedding of Bernice Summerfield and Jason Kane, uncovering the schemes of The Master during the festivities (NA: Happy Endings). Bernice's further adventures would eventually reaquaint her with Sherlock's family (BFBS: The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel).
Like all members of the human race, Holmes was reborn into The City of the Saved but, thanks to the Remembrance Tank technology of The Remote, multiple versions of him were created by the populace, most based on film and television versions of the character rather than on the historical figure himself. Many of these Holmes iterations joined together to establish The Great Detective Agency (FP: Of the City of the Saved...).
Holmes' Family
Behind the Scenes
A further connection between the Doctor Who universe and Holmesian fiction exists in that the Cold (TN: Time and Relative) reappears in one of Kim Newman's Diogenes Club short stories.
