The character, who was originally invented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, won the BBC survey with nearly 30% of all viewers voting for Benedict Cumberbatch’s iconic version of the detective.

For the survey 7000 people, aged 18-64, were conducted in Australia, the US, Germany, France, India, Japan and Mexico.

The famous detective is followed by Doctor Who and Idris Elba’s Luther. Beating the Doctor is particularly impressive, regarding that Cumberbatch technically managed to defeat over a dozen different actors who embodied the body-changing Doctor over the years. Doctor Who was finally voted second on the list with about 18%.

Other characters in the Top 10 include Fawlty Towers’ Basil, Top Gear’s Stig and Edmund Blackadder. Ab Fab’s Patsy Stone was the highest ranked women on the list, and with the Doctor Who villains, the Daleks, even non-human characters made their way into the ranking.

Here is the full list:
1. Sherlock (29.7%)
2. Doctor Who (17.6%)
3. Luther (12.4%)
4. Basil Fawlty (11.8%)
5. The Stig (8.2%)
6. Patsy Stone (8.1%)
7. Edmund Blackadder (7.4%)
8. Hyacinth Bucket (6.1%)
9. Vicar of Dibley (5.8%)
10. The Daleks (5.6%)

BBC viewers were also asked to name the “most iconic BBC moment” on television in a second poll and again Cumberbatch dominates the ranking: Gaining about one third of the votes, Sherlock came out on top with 2012’s season finale The Reichenbach Fall. In the second season's last episode the detective seems to fall to his death from a rooftop, but returnes unharmed to the show in the next series, causing speculations and fan theories about this moment.

The show finished its fourth run last month and if Sherlock and Watson will return to BBC with a fifth season has to be revealed yet.

Cumberbatch meanwhile states that he is “honoured” by the viewers’ decision.

“Who would have thought a high-functioning sociopath could be so popular… all over the world?” he said.