The characters Of Holmes and Watson were fixed in the public mind by their early movie portrayal by Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce respectively. The movie made two major errors in bringing Conan Doyle to the screen. First is Bruce’s portrayal of Watson as sort of a bumbling Colonel Blimp. The second, and less obvious, is the portrayal of Holmes and Watson as in advanced middle age. Both issues are major diversions from the characters as written by Conan Doyle.
In fact, When we first meet Holmes and Watson in “A Study in Scarlet”, Holmes in in his late twenties and Watson is a couple of years older. Watson is returning from service in Afghanistan (!) and answers an add for a roommate. The advertiser is Holmes. Far from being a bumbler, Watson is the man of action while Holmes is the cerebral sleuth. In there adventures, Holmes always asks Watson to accompany him when there is a the threat of danger and to bring his gun.
Ben David, it is fairly well known that R’ Yaakov Kaminetsky, ZTL, read Sherlock Holmes in Russian translation and was a fan. If Holmes was frum enough for Rav Yaakov, he’s frum enough for me.