While nothing came of their association at that time, it did inspire Conan Doyle to pen a five-act play featuring Holmes and Professor Moriarty.

[2] Gillette, a successful playwright, donned a deerstalker and cape to visit Conan Doyle and request permission not only to perform the part but to rewrite it himself.

[1] The play itself drew material from Conan Doyle's published stories "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Final Problem" and A Study in Scarlet,[2][1][3][4] while adding much that was new as well.

"[1][5] The love interest was modelled on Irene Adler's role in "A Scandal in Bohemia", with Gillette reinventing the character and renaming her "Alice Faulkner".

Conan Doyle had mentioned an unnamed pageboy in "A Case of Identity", and Gillette utilized the character and christened him "Billy".

... As made by Mr. Gillette, between seasons or between revivals, the changes were intended to lend speed or effectiveness to the drama as seen and heard by a theatre audience.

Long speeches were made into short ones, and some were dropped entirely; references that had little or no bearing on the swift and chronological development of the narrative were eliminated.

[9] The four-act drama was produced by Charles Frohman, with incidental music by William Furst and scenic design by Ernest Gros.

[9] Between this play and Conan Doyle's own stage adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", Saintsbury portrayed Holmes over 1,000 times.

[13] A burlesque of the play, Sheerluck Jones, or Why D’Gillette Him Off opened at Terry's Theatre in 1901 with Clarence Blakiston in the title role and ran for 138 performances.

[18] Directed by Frank Dunlop and starring John Wood as Holmes, the play was a huge success,[18] which led to a move to Broadway in November 1974[19] and a subsequent tour.

[20] In 1976, the play was performed at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the cast included Alan Rickman as Sherlock Holmes and David Suchet as Professor Moriarty.

The cast included Ray Collins as Dr. Watson, Mary Taylor as Alice Faulkner, Brenda Forbes as Madge Larrabee, Edgar Barrier as James Larrabee, Morgan Farley as Inspector Forman, Richard Wilson as Craigin, Alfred Shirley as Bassick, William Alland as Leary, Arthur Anderson as Billy, and Eustace Wyatt as Professor Moriarty.

Gillette's Holmes is widely credited with being the first to utter "Elementary, my dear Watson"[2][7]—a phrase that never appears in Conan Doyle's stories.