This famous actor almost played Sherlock's John Watson in the BBC adaptation (and later became the titular Doctor Who)

English actor Martin Freeman portrayed the awkward, loyal, and highly diligent sidekick to Sherlock Holmes in the hit BBC adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective stories.

Freeman's Dr. John Watson's equation with Benedict Cumberbatch's titular detective in the BBC Sherlock was highly praised and appreciated, but another famous actor almost played the part instead of Freeman.

While Doctor Who star Matt Smith initially auditioned for Watson, creator Steven Moffat instead considered him for the role of the next Doctor in his BBC sci-fi series.

While Smith is now an established actor, with titles like Doctor Who and The Crown under his belt, he was starting as an actor when he auditioned for Watson in Sherlock. On the other hand, Freeman was already known to the British audience, thanks to his role as Tim Canterbury in The Office UK.

More on this in our story.

Doctor Who star Matt Smith almost played Watson in BBC Sherlock

What would a partnership between Holmes and the Eleventh Doctor have looked like? We will likely never know, as although Matt Smith auditioned for the role of Dr. John Watson in the BBC's hit series, he did not get the part.

Recalling Smith's first audition with Digital Spy, Moffat revealed:

"He was auditioning - bizarrely enough, if you can picture this - for the role of Dr Watson in Sherlock. "We'd already cast Benedict Cumberbatch [as Holmes] and the very first person we saw for Dr Watson was Matt, who came in and gave a very good audition.''

While Smith is an equally talented actor, Moffat and the crew did not see him as a Watson:

"But he didn't have a chance in hell of getting it 'cos he was clearly more of a Sherlock Holmes than a Dr Watson. There was also something a bit barmy about him - and you don't actually want that for Dr Watson, you want someone a bit straighter."

While Smith did not get the part for Watson, it changed his life, and he debuted as the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC's Doctor Who. Moffat, who was also the second showrunner and head writer of the BBC sci-fi television series Doctor Who from 2010-17, considered Smith for the part:

"Oddly enough, I wrote an email where I said, 'I saw this guy today for Dr Watson and I'd noticed he was on the list for Doctor Who' - so the Doctor did flip through my head at that time."

Martin Freeman played the character of Watson to perfection

While both Matt Smith and Martin Freeman are talented actors who went on to do amazing projects after Sherlock and Doctor Who, Freeman was the right choice for Dr. John Watson.

As Moffat felt, Smith is clearly more of a lead figure, whereas Martin Freeman perfectly captured the nuances of the character, and his chemistry with Cumberbatch was off the charts.

Freeman brought a different layer to the character, and even ardent fans of Sir Doyle's books liked Freeman's take on the character, who is now as popular as the titular Detective.

BBC's Sherlock is not the first adaptation of the classic book series and will certainly not be the last. However, Cumberbatch and Freeman's take on the characters and stories will surely be one of the best modern adaptations of the book series.

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