Culverton Smith

Culverton Smith is a villain in the fourth series of the BBC Series Sherlock, in which he appears as the main antagonist of the second episode "The Lying Detective". He is a TV personality, celebrity and philanthropist who is secretly a serial killer. He is portrayed by Toby Jones and is an adaption of the Sherlock Holmes villain of the same name.

Biography
He is a prominent entrepreneur and philanthropist, Smith is secretly a serial killer, who doesn't kill out of hate or love, but for the pleasure of killing. Using his wealth and unassailable power, he is able to use his charity-funded hospital as a way to go into patient's rooms and then kill them, taking inspiration from H. H. Holmes

Smith also has an uncontrollable need to confess to his crimes, going as far as to confess to his closest friends, even his daughter Faith, but making them forget his crimes by inducing them to a memory inhibiting drug. Sherlock comes up against Smith when Faith gives him a slip of paper that she wrote down, reminding her of fragments of the crimes Smith told her. <span

Sherlock comes to suspect Smith of being a serial killer, garnering media attention, which forces Sherlock and John to go with Smith to his hospital. After Sherlock tries to attack Smith with a scalpel, he is taken in as a patient to recuperate from drugs. Smith attempts to kill Sherlock, believing him to be a threat. Sherlock manages to make Smith confess, and his confession is recorded, and thus is arrested.

After being interrogated by Greg Lestrade, Smith finds that confessing was more enjoyable than he imagined, and "should have done it sooner". He also realizes that this confession will make him even more famous, and that he may be able to "break America".

Series Four

 * "The Lying Detective"

Trivia

 * The character appears in a cameo through a bus stop photo in the first episode of series 4 "The Six Thatchers".
 * Promotions appear to give the impression that Culverton Smith would be the main antagonist of the fourth series overall, however this was just distraction from the true main villain.