I made this graphic because some people like to complain that changing the gender/sex of the characters somehow “ruins” or “desecrates” Arthur Conan Doyle’s legacy. Funnily enough nobody ever complains when they are turned into mice, dogs, etc. (Presumably because they are still male.) As you can see there have been several female versions of these characters in the past, and they have hardly ruined anything.
Some of the oldest adaptations only had the actor info for Holmes on IMDB, so either Watson didn’t exist in those films at all, or the actor is unknown. (If he did exist it’s pretty safe to assume he was male.)
I excluded incarnations where Holmes/Watson only appeared once as guest stars in unrelated tv shows. (There were lots.)
I would love to see the one with female Holmes and male Watson. :D
Not directly related to the discussion but one morning some time ago I sat through a short cartoon that had a bison (?) Sherlock and a female stoat (???) Watson. The animation was done in Flash and it looked relatively new, but I never really stumbled upon it ever again. I mean, I was slightly hungover and didn’t feel very good, but watching it was kind of a bizzare experience and I’m not sure whether the cartoon actually exists or I just made it up.