Sherlock Holmes is a government official. Mycroft has a unique civil service position as a kind of human database for all aspects of government policy. He lacks Sherlock's interest in physical investigation, however, preferring to spend his time at the Diogenes Club. Holmes says that he first developed his methods of deduction as an undergraduate; his earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from fellow university students. A meeting with a classmate's father led him to adopt detection as a profession, and he spent several years after university as a consultant before financial difficulties led him to accept John H.
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother Sacker, shares a similar name with that originally applied to John Watson, Ormond Sacker. The film's title and premise are a joke referring to the character of Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes' "older" brother, who was by both of their estimates a good deal smarter than Sherlock. He was, however, too lazy to become a detective, and did indispensable work for the British government. Mycroft was described by Sherlock in conversation with Watson: Mycroft is mentioned briefly in the beginning of the film, which presupposes that Holmes was one of three brothers. Sigerson's name refers to an alias used by Sherlock