Sherlock characters to appear on new set of Royal Mail stamps

Royal Mail is releasing a set of special stamps featuring characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series and BBC One’s Sherlock.

The ten stamps, which go on general sale from Tuesday 18th August, are being issued to celebrate the detective as “one of the most beloved fictional heroes of all time”.

Six of the stamps will feature images of characters from the BBC’s hit adaptation Sherlock to represent the Conan Doyle stories adapted within the series, with Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Martin Freeman (John Watson), Andrew Scott (Jim Moriarty) Mark Gatiss (Mycroft Holmes), Amanda Abbington (Mary Watson) and Lara Pulver (Irene Adler) appearing in the set.

The remaining four stamps feature illustrations of other stories written by Conan Doyle – The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Second Stain and The Adventure of the Dancing Men.

Royal Mail

Each character stamp features a scene from some of Sherlock’s most popular episodes across the series and reveals hidden details from the episode storyline when a UV light is shone over them.

The Sherlock episodes featured on the stamps include A Scandal in Belgravia (Irene Adler), A Study in Pink (John Watson), The Great Game (Moriarty), The Reichenbach Fall (Sherlock), The Empty Hearse (Mary Watson) and The Final Problem (Mycroft Holmes).

Sherlock producer Sue Vertue said in a statement: “We are terribly proud of our Sherlock TV series and now am ridiculously excited about these Royal Mail stamps.  I’m going to immediately book a UK holiday so I can send all my friends postcards using them!”

Richard Doyle, Arthur Conan Doyle’s great nephew said: “In the first chapter of my great uncle Arthur’s famous Sherlock Holmes novel, The Sign of Four, Sherlock remarks upon the sheet of stamps in Watson’s desk – imagine his consternation if it turned out to be this sheet of stamps!  What would he have deduced from what he observed?”

He continued: “I hope those who take a close look at these fascinating stamps, observing not just seeing, are inspired to read the original stories and novels written by my great uncle – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.”

Sherlock, created and written by Doctor Who’s Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, aired for the first time in July 2010 and ran for four series, with the last episode airing in January 2017.

While there have been rumours about Sherlock’s return for a fifth series, the BBC has not confirmed anything.

The full set of 10 stamps can be pre-ordered from the Royal Mail website for £13.50.