Appreciated by both the general public and the `Holmesian" community, the tele-vision series Sherlock by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat (BBC, 2010-) is a faithful adaptation, in the contemporary world, of the stories of the human literary character most often portrayed on screen. The popularity of Dr. Watson's friend is explained by the fact that he embodies the reassuring triumph of scientific reason over the social disorder engendered by crime. Beyond other qualities of the show, this text proposes the hypothesis that the success of the character and that of the series come, above all, from the fact that the world in which Sherlock Holmes operates in Conan Doyle's stories is no more orderly than the one in which we live today. In this perspective, the famous detective is less a scientist whose certainties would have the main virtue of reassuring us, than a philosopher who teaches us to live with uncertainty.
