Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle: Release date & time, where to watch, plot and more

Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle is a highly anticipated three-part documentary series that delves into the complex relationship between Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes.

Premiering on December 8, 2024, at 8 pm ET on PBS, the series is hosted by Lucy Worsley, a British historian and Sherlock Holmes enthusiast. In this exploration, Worsley investigates why Doyle, despite creating one of the most iconic literary characters, came to despise Sherlock Holmes.

After the premiere of the series, subsequent episodes will be released on Sundays until December 22, 2024. It will be accessible to viewers across a variety of devices, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV, as well as PBS platforms such as PBS.org and the PBS app.

The program is expected to provide a distinctive viewpoint on the historical context of Sherlock Holmes' inception and its creator.

From the late Victorian era until the stormy years of the First World War, Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle explores how Doyle and Holmes lived within the social and political tensions of their times.

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Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle: Release date and more

Holmes vs. Doyle, a television series directed by Lucy Worsley, will debut on PBS on December 8, 2024, at 8 pm ET. The series will consist of three episodes, each of which will delve into a distinct phase of the relationship between Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. This documentary will be accessible on PBS stations across the country and can also be viewed on PBS.org and the PBS app.

Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle will be released on a weekly basis. Episode 1 will be broadcast on December 8, 2024, with episode 2 following on December 15, 2024, and the final episode airing on December 22, 2024.

In a historical context, the series is expected to provide fascinating insights into the life of Conan Doyle and the cultural impact of his creation, Sherlock Holmes.

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Everything to know about Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle

In Holmes vs. Doyle, Lucy Worsley guides viewers on an investigative journey through the lives of Arthur Conan Doyle and his detective creation, Sherlock Holmes. Lucy Worsley, the Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces and a distinguished British historian hosts this series.

Worsley's proficiency in historical storytelling enables her to disentangle the intricate relationship between author and character, offering an intriguing perspective on the reasons for Doyle's disillusionment with the detective he established as a household name.

Image of Lucy Worsley (Image via PBS)

Worsley looks at many facets of Doyle and Holmes's life over the three episodes. Doctor and Detective, the first episode, reveals Holmes's beginnings in Doyle's early years as a medical student and investigates how Doyle's life shaped his writings.

The second episode, Fact and Fiction, explores Doyle's need to cut himself off from Holmes following the detective's seeming death.

The last episode, Shadows and Sleuths, looks at Sherlock Holmes's comeback and the later, tragic and spiritually charged years of Doyle's life.

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Plot of Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle

Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle follows the fascinating and sometimes turbulent relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle. Starting with the birth of Sherlock Holmes, the show explores the logical, methodical approach to crime-solving taken by the detective in Edinburgh and relates this to Doyle's medical studies in Edinburgh.

Worsley looks at how the scientific developments of the day and the sinister side of Victorian society affected the early tales of the detective.

The official synopsis of the series reads:

"Sherlock Holmes is the most famous detective in the world. He made his author, Arthur Conan Doyle, rich and famous. But the writer came to hate his fictional character. Through the changing world of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, Lucy Worsley explores why."

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Lucy Worsley’s Holmes vs. Doyle offers a deep and engaging look at the relationship between Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. Catch the first episode of the series on December 8 on PBS.