Facts about M.D. Watson
John H. Watson, M.D. Biography
John H. Watson, M.D. — otherwise known as Dr. Watson — is the loyal companion of detective Sherlock Holmes and the narrator of nearly all the Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Dr. Watson made his debut in A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story (published in 1887). In that story he met Holmes, joined him in bachelor lodgings at 221b Baker Street in London, and accompanied the detective on the first of his many adventures. In later stories Dr. Watson began his own medical practice, married, and moved out of the Baker Street flat; in still later stories, after the untimely death of his wife, Watson moved back in with Holmes.
Though often played as a buffoon in the movies (most notably by Nigel Bruce in the series of films starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes), the Dr. Watson of the original stories is a dependable and intelligent man, and offers a warmhearted counterpoint to Holmes’s cool cynicism. The 1980s Grenada Television series, featuring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, featured David Burke and then Edward Hardwicke playing Watson as just such an intelligent, competent man.
Extra credit
Sherlock Holmes never actually says “Elementary, my dear Watson” in any of Doyle’s stories… Other actors who have played Dr. Watson include James Mason (Murder by Decree, 1979, with Christopher Plummer as Holmes), Patrick Macnee (Incident at Victoria Falls, 1991, with Christopher Lee as Holmes) and Ben Kingsley (Without a Clue, 1988, with Michael Caine as a bumbling Holmes)… According to A Study in Scarlet, James Watson received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of London in 1878, and was “struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet” while serving with the British Army in Afghanistan… Dr. Watson is no relation to real-life musician Doc Watson.