Irene Adler

Irene Adler is a minor villain on the BBC crime drama, Sherlock. Irene is one of the only love interests of Sherlock Holmes. She manipulated Sherlock into decoding her phone that he was after which had information on it that the Queen of the United Kingdom wanted. She resides in a large house in London and has nicknames for Mycroft and Sherlock (the Ice Man and the Virgin).

Irene was portrayed by Lara Pulver

History
Irene Adler (Lara Pulver) is featured in "A Scandal in Belgravia" as a dominatrix, more commonly referred to as "The Woman", who provides "recreational scolding" for anyone willing to pay for it. She takes pictures of her job as "protection" to make sure her clients don't do anything unfavorable to her. Irene is just as brilliant as Sherlock, being about to outwit him repeatedly; however, she also ends up falling in love with him, which proves to be her downfall. She sends Sherlock a series of flirtatious texts, repeatedly requesting to "have dinner" with him. Having taken a picture of the information for "Bond Air", she was targeted by American agents, who were working with the British government to trick terrorists into thinking that their bomb would blow up a plane and take the lives of hundreds. She was also sought out by Mycroft for incriminating photos of herself and one of her clients. She contacted Moriarty about the Bond Air plan, being given advice on how to use it to her advantage. She successfully duped Sherlock into revealing what Bond Air was about, texting the answer to Moriarty, who informed the terrorists.

Facing off with both the "Holmes Boys", the Ice Man (Mycroft) and the Virgin (Sherlock), Irene attempted to get a list of demands fulfilled; however, Sherlock figured out the password to her phone - I am SHER Locked (in love with Sherlock Holmes). With her protection gone, Irene was left to the mercy of any who were after her. Though it was reported she was beheaded some time later, Sherlock had actually helped her fake her death.

Relationship
Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock is the man Irene's in love with but, at first, she was just playing him so he can decode her phone and later ended up in love with him.

Dr John Watson

John was the first one to know Irene was not dead. John was baffled when he found out that Sherlock loved her and that Irene had been text flirting with Sherlock but did not reply.

Jim Moriarty

Jim texts Irene with information about Sherlock and Mycroft and how to manipulate them. Irene was the one that changed Jim's mind about killing Sherlock and John.