Benedict Cumberbatch's iconic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes has topped a worldwide poll of the most popular BBC television characters, and the actor said that he was "honoured" by character's popularity, joking to the BBC: "Who would have thought a high-functioning sociopath could be so popular… All over the world?"
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According to the poll, which surveyed over 7,000 people from around the globe, the sonic screwdriver swinging Time Lord Doctor Who came in second place with 17.6% of the vote, while Idris Elba's genius yet controversial detective John Luther took third place wiith 12.4%. The remaining seven were made up of comedy greats, including Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers, Patsy Stone from Absolutely Fabulous, Geraldine Granger from The Vicar of Dibley, Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances and Rowan Atkinson's Edmund Blackadder from Blackadder. There were a couple of surprising additions to the poll, including the mysterious Stig from Top Gear and the Doctor's greatest villain, the Daleks, who came in tenth place with 5.6% of the vote.
Another poll, which BBC Worldwide's Paul Dempsey described as showing "the show and affection audiences have for our shows around the world", also set out to find the most iconic moment in any BBC show, and Sherlock's fall from a rooftop in the series two finale Reichenbach Fall came out on top with an impressive 26% of the vote. Other top moments included the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch, Colin Firth's Mr Darcy emerging from the lake in Pride and Prejudice and David Brent's cringe-worthy dancing in The Office.
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Although Sherlock clearly remains one of the BBC's most popular shows after recently completing it's fourth series, showrunners Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have revealed that they are unsure about the show's futures. Speaking at a Q&A, Steven said: "If [series four] is the last time - and I'm not planning on it to be, but it might be - it is possible that we could end it. We couldn't have ended it on any of the previous series because there was what have been great cliffhangers."