Langdale Pike is a celebrated gossipmonger whose columns are published in numerous magazines and newspapers which are referred to as the "garbage papers" by John Watson.
Pike is introduced in "The Adventure of the Three Gables" in which he helps Sherlock Holmes learn the name of the woman who led Douglas Maberley to his demise, although he does not actually appear in the story itself and is only referred to by Watson, who describes Pike as "strange" and "languid" and states that all of Pike's waking hours are spent "in the bow window of a St. James's Street club".
Adaptations[]
- In William S. Baring-Gould's biography of Sherlock Holmes it is claimed that Pike is a college acquaintance of Holmes who encourages a young Holmes to try his hand at acting. Here his real name is given as 'Lord Peter'.
- In the 1994 BBC radio dramatisation scripted by Peter Ling, Pike's real name is said to be Clarence Gable. Here he is also an old school-friend of Holmes's and is nervous of strangers and reluctant to leave his club for this reason.
- In the Granada Television series starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes, Pike appears in person (played by Peter Wyngarde) in the 1994 episode that adapts the The Adventure of the Three Gables. This version of the character includes several additions, e.g. he is apparently an old university friend of Holmes's. Pike claims to be something of a benevolent counterpart to Charles Augustus Milverton, the eponymous blackmailer of "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", by suppressing more information than he exposes. Though Watson is rather scathing about Pike, Holmes is more sympathetic towards him, suggesting that Pike is isolated, much like Holmes himself.
- Langdale Pike has an off-screen role in the season two premiere of Elementary, but his character is otherwise physically absent, similarly to his original characterisation.