Detective fiction detective fiction. Doyle attempted to kill the character off after twenty-three stories, but by popular request, he continued to write the Sherlock Holmes series. Sherlock Holmes is not only referenced as the titular character, but has also influenced many other areas outside of detective fiction. For example, the BBC-produced TV series Sherlock gained a very large fandom after first airing in 2010, imbuing a renewed interest in the character in the general public. Because of the popularity of Holmes, Conan Doyle was often regarded as being “as well-known as Queen Victoria”. Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian private detective, created
Brain of Britain a pseudonym, to adjudicate when an answer was imprecise. For many years Ian Gillies fulfilled the role, taking the name "Mycroft" (from Mycroft Holmes, older and wiser brother of Sherlock). After his death in April 2002, the new question setter was Kevin Ashman, who has the distinction of winning both "Brain of Britain" and "Mastermind". He chose to be known as "Jorkins", a character in Dickens' "David Copperfield". From the 2007 series a team of setters was engaged, as is the practice in most other quiz shows. For much of its life the theme music of "Brain of Britain" was