How The Irregulars’ Supernatural Elements Fit Sherlock Holmes’ History

The supernatural stories in The Irregulars may seem like a strange choice for a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, but they are based on Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle’s investigations into the paranormal. Sherlock Holmes was always a proponent of logic and explanations grounded in the observable world, but his author was known for his great interest in Spiritualism. This Sherlock Holmes adaptation combines the characters of Sherlock’s stories with Arthur Conan Doyle’s pursuit of psychic phenomena.

The Irregulars brings Holmes’ famous homeless network into investigations of psychics, magic, and tears in the veil that separates the physical from the spiritual world. Creator Tom Bidwell drew these horror elements from Arthur Conan Doyle as an ode to the author, as Doyle was not only interested in the paranormal, but also wrote a number of supernatural horror stories outside of his work on Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was one of the major proponents of Spiritualism in his time, always looking for real evidence of psychic phenomena.

In 1887, Doyle declared himself a Spiritualist and embarked on investigations of seances, mediums, poltergeists, and telepathy. He joined the Society of Psychical Research and collaborated with other members in his paranormal investigations, and he wrote several books on the subject. He was also alleged to be a member of the Golden Dawn Society shown in The Irregulars. He sometimes declared the phenomena he investigated to be real, but he fell for a couple of famous hoaxes along the way.

In 1920, Doyle used the Cottingley Fairies photographs, a series of photos featuring small fairies taken by two young cousins, as evidence of real psychic phenomena. The cousins confessed in the 1980s that the photos were a hoax made using cardboard cutouts and hatpins. Doyle also believed in the séance of the Masked Medium, even when the medium and her host were quickly revealed to be magicians who explained how they pulled off their tricks and illusions. He even thought the magician Harry Houdini had supernatural powers, though Houdini was a friend of Doyle’s and famously an opponent of Spiritualism and debunker of mediums. Doyle wanted to believe, and he never gave up the pursuit of proof.

The supernatural element of The Irregulars is a significant change to Sherlock Holmes, but it fits perfectly with Arthur Conan Doyle’s legacy. While it’s impossible to know whether Doyle ever experienced a real paranormal phenomenon, he dedicated many years to searching for scientific evidence of psychics and contact with spirits. The Irregulars is a homage to Arthur Conan Doyle, including the parts of his story that seem like the antithesis of Sherlock Holmes.

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