Sexton Blake is a fictional detective who appeared in many British comic strips and novels throughout the 20th century. In 2003, in the BBC's The Radio Detectives, Professor Jeffrey Richards described him as "the poor man's Sherlock Holmes". Sexton Blake adventures appeared in a wide variety of British and international publications (in many languages) from 1893 to 1978, running to over 4,000 stories by some 200 different authors. Blake was also the hero of numerous silent and sound films, radio serials, and a 1960s ITV television series.