More than 100 years after he first appeared, Holmes remains the template for the fictional detective.

A three-pint problem

I used to work as a private detective years and years ago.

After 30 years of television, I want to play more than I used to.

I've always slightly preferred Spade to Marlowe, probably just because I thought Hammett was cooler than Chandler. He was leftwing, his name shortened to Dash rather than Ray, and he didn't smoke a pipe or like cats.

You throw the kitchen sink at your early books. You put everything in there. It's like when you meet a new girlfriend or boyfriend, you tell them all your best stories. By the time you have been married for 10 years, they are crying, 'Shut up!'