Profile - Sherlock

Subtlety was never a priority for the creators of the multitudinous Cheeky's Week cast, so when the decision was made to include an aspiring detective among the ranks of the toothy funster's pals, said sleuth was equipped with a deerstalker hat, magnifying glass and named Sherlock.

Cheeky's investigative chum made his debut in the first issue of Krazy.

Krazy issue 1, 16 October 1976
Art: Frank McDiarmid

Sherlock's powers of deduction in his first appearance were positively Holmesian compared to those on display during his run in Cheeky Weekly. Although he did get a mention in the first issue of the toothy funster's comic, it wasn't until issue 7 that Sherlock actually appeared, cropping up on Friday and again on Saturday.

Sherlock's first appearance in Cheeky Weekly,
issue dated 03 December 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

In the comic dated 24 December 1977, Sherlock was hired by Nosy Nora to help her locate that week's copy of the ever-elusive Mystery Comic.

Art: Barrie Appleby

The issue dated 10 June 1978 featured Sherlock's first front cover appearance as he joined Cheeky in the What A Cheek strip.

Sherlaock gets a one-off page to himself - Krazy 10 September 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid

In the comic dated 24 June 1978 Petula recruited Sherlock to find a missing elephant, (no, not that one - his adventures didn't start until September that year) and the tiny 'tec's search continued in the following edition. Despite appearing on 5 pages in that issue, Sherlock was unable to locate the errant pachyderm, which had spent the week on Krazy Town High Street inside a cosy created for it by the agile knitting needles of Granny Gumdrop.

Art: Mike Lacey

It seems that Petula was rather lax in securing her betrunked pet, as Sherlock was again on its trail in the comic dated 05 August 1978. The success or otherwise of his search was on this occasion not disclosed.

The adolescent investigator was once more in pursuit of one of Petula's AWOL animals in the 16 September 1978 edition...

 

Art: Frank McDiarmid

...sadly, the species of the missing creature was not revealed.

Sherlock had the honour of being the star of the back page Cheeky's Pal Puzzle in the comic dated 04 November 1978, and the junior detective's second and final cover appearance was on the front of the 17 February 1979 edition, where he was shown as a member of that week's Joke-Box Jury panel.

The youthful gumshoe was the subject of the Burpo Special in the comic dated 30 June 1979.

Art: Mike Lacey

 

Prior to his appearance in Cheeky Weekly dated 31 December 1977, Sherlock was always depicted with pupils in the centre of his eyes, as are many comic characters. However in the aforementioned issue, Frank McDiarmid drew the junior sleuth's eyes as black ovals with no white of the eyes showing. When Frank next drew Sherlock, on the cover of the 10 June 1978 comic, he included whites, but when depicting the young investigator on 5 pages in Cheeky Weekly dated 01 July 1978, Frank showed him on some pages with whites around his pupils and on others without. All Frank's subsequent renderings of Sherlock included whites. Mike Lacey always drew Cheeky's sleuthing pal without whites, whereas Barrie Appleby drew him on some occasions with and on others without.

The daft detective's final Cheeky Weekly appearance was in the issue dated 19 January 1980, concluding a run during which he appeared in 47 issues.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Sherlock	47	03-Dec-1977	19-Jan-1980

Sherlock - Number of appearances by Element

Element	Number of Appearances
Saturday	16
Interval	12
Friday	9
Monday	3
Thursday	3
Tuesday	3
Wednesday	2
Cover Feature	1
Sunday	1
Sunday evening	1
The Burpo Special	1
What a Cheek	1

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Sherlock	Frank McDiarmid	23
Sherlock	Mike Lacey	12
Sherlock	Frank McDiarmid pencils	11
Sherlock	Barrie Appleby	4
Sherlock	Jim Watson	1
Sherlock	Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	1
Sherlock	Jimmy Hansen	1