8 Best TV Versions of Moriarty, Ranked

For over 130 years, Professor James Moriarty has been causing mayhem, mischief, and general malevolence everywhere he goes, but particularly when it comes to undermining his great foe, the master of deduction, Sherlock Holmes.

Created in 1893 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for the short story “The Final Problem,” Moriarty was a brilliant mathematician who pulled the strings of London’s criminal underworld. More than a mere plot device designed to challenge the world’s greatest detective, he was a criminal strategist who operated with precision and patience, a paragon of intellect whose carefully orchestrated machinations made him Sherlock Holmes’ most formidable and enduring adversary.