Eamonn and Sherlock: Were the Holmes boys separated at birth?

King of the TV sofa, Eamonn Holmes hogged headlines when he rolled off his cushions to complain about comics making fun of his girth. His namesake Sherlock also grabbed publicity with the launch of a new mystery series on the BBC tonight. Chalk and cheese or peas in a pod?

Detectives Ever checked out Eamonn's rather earnest 1992 take on a police constable in Inspector Morse?

Fashion Sartorially speaking, the two are poles apart. But while Sherlock's deerstalker, cane and pipe may have been the height of Victorian man-of-action attire, and self-confessed fashion ingénu Eamonn sticks to a straight suit and tie, one can't help thinking that both cut strange figures out of their uniforms.

Fans Almost a century on, the celebrated detective still gets fan mail from all over the world requesting the use of his sleuthing skills. Eamonn, on the other hand, has a quarterly fanzine, eamonn.TV, dedicated to him. The chances of it still being around in 2110? Don't put your shirt on it.

Work Sherlock used razor-sharp logic to cut through the Gordian knot of murder mysteries. Eamonn, well ... Eamonn – who has an honorary degree – reads an autocue and deploys his charm and bonhomie.

The law Sherlock kept an eagle eye on the law by day, but by night it all became a little fuzzy behind a cocaine haze. Clean-living Eamonn has no such vices, although he was once arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The boys in blue arrested him at Old Trafford after his father misplaced his ID. The blunder happened during a fragile time in Anglo-Irish relations.