Do I really need to sum up a show about Sherlock Holmes? I'm pretty sure anyone would be familiar with the premises, this particular iteration from the early 2010s aired on the BBC, had Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as the two leads and was set in contemporary London. 

While I re-watched the pilot countless times (fun fact, there was a time when I taught English as a Foreign Language to highly motivated adults, and one of my teaching modules was built entirely around the Sherlock pilot and it always went down a treat) the whole series is definitely flawed. The fandom predictably went nuts for the inevitable m/m pairing but I've read all sorts of fic, and even the gen ones or the casefiles (and the crossover/fusions) were a lot of fun. 

1. It's Not the Violin by copperbadge. Gen but platonic love? 3.8K words. <7i>Somewhere between Alejandro and the fistfight, John Watson became someone Sherlock Holmes would kill for. I liked this one so much it was part of that Sherlock-inspired teaching module, using FayJay's excellent podfic. 

2. Green Grow the Rushes, O! by@AJHall.ao3. This is technically a casefile but the character bits are more important than the case. And it's so perfectly British and witty. The humour. Btw, you should read anything AJHall has ever written, she was so talented.

3. The Case of the Unwelcome Owl by FayJay. 7.1 K words. Gen. Crossover with Harry Potter. This is so much fun. Perfect blending of the two worlds.  "So," said John, feeling out of his depth once again. "An owl." It was the same mild, politely curious tone of voice with which he had previously found himself uttering such things as: "So – three bags of frozen AB negative," and "So – a selection of human ears." "Goodness, John, with deductive prowess like that you'll soon be putting me in the shade," Sherlock said tartly. "Can't sneak anything past you, can we?" FayJay also podficced her own story, and thank God she did. How can one single person be so talented?!?

4. If you need to read only one fic, this should be it: The Least of All Possible Mistakes by@rageprufrock.ao3 If ever a people deserved tasering, it’s Holmeses. It's a freaking novel (almost 120K words), and it's the whole series written from the point of view of a genderswapped Instpector Lestrade, George. I inevitably picture her as an older, British version of George from Dead Like Me and it works. Technically it's Lestrade/Mycroft but there's John/Sherlock too. But it's not a shippy fic. It's a love letter to London written by someone who doesn't live there but clearly loves it. It's also the story of a woman in the police force. It's amazing. It can be read if  you don't know the canon. GO READ IT! or better yet, listen to Lazulus's amazing podfic, another all time favourite of mine. 

The Pitt

you need it shouted by oonabashed Mel/Langfdon, explicit, 5.8K words. Mel King isn't used to being the impatient one in her relationships. This was one of the first explicit, smutty fics I've read for this pairing and I still think it's one of the hottest and with the best Mel characterisation. Many authors write Mel as sexually inexperienced or even a virgin, and foten do a fantastic job of it, it's a dynamic that plays beautifully with fanon Frank, but to me the depiction in this fic sounds more plausible. Also, I think this fic is a bit of a hidden gem among the many, many, great stories for this pairing and it's criminally underrated. It needs more hits and kudso, people!