Prime’s Young Sherlock tells the tale of two origins. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the master detective’s exploits are legendary. His formative years, before honing his deductive skills, however, remain relatively untouched on the small screen. Until now. Inspired by Andrew Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes novels, the action-packed TV series – executive produced by Guy Ritchie and premiering today (March 4) – finds a 19-year-old Sherlock (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’s Hero Fiennes Tiffin) reluctantly employed as a scout at Oxford University. Quick-witted, defiant and lacking discipline, the charming future sleuth becomes entangled in his first investigation, a murder case that escalates into a globe-trotting conspiracy.
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Sherlock also befriends James Moriarty (The Wheel of Time’s Donal Finn), a bright scholarship student who proves to be Sherlock’s intellectual and troublemaking equal. Yep, that Moriarty. The guy destined to become Sherlock’s arch-nemesis. For now, the two bond over unravelling a mystery, exonerating themselves of a crime they did not commit and navigating Sherlock’s complicated family dynamic. Showrunner Matthew Parkhill and Tiffin spoke to ComicBook about reimagining the titular detective, Sherlock and Moriarty’s blossoming friendship, dream casting and Tiffin’s thoughts on revisiting the Harry Potter franchise.
ComicBook: Most people have a preconceived notion of Sherlock Holmes. In what ways does this series re-imagine the super sleuth and fill in some of the blanks regarding him and his family?
Hero Fiennes Tiffin: As a fan of Sherlock, there is a lot in that first script where my knee-jerk reaction was. “That is simply not true. Sherlock is good at fighting. Sherlock is not friends with Moriarty. They are enemies.” But you very quickly come around and realize how interesting it is to explore these themes and ideas. We don’t have time to talk about all of them, but specifically the friendship with Moriarty… I know a lot of people initially, like myself, are going to disagree with that being the case. But perhaps Sherlock never told Watson they are friends. Once you get your head around that, you understand how enriched their rivalry is with the notion they were once friends.
The way they understand each other’s weaknesses, and the reason that they are probably the only people in the world that we really believe can best each other, is because they were previously friends. I don’t think it takes long, when watching the first episode, to realize how fun it is to watch their relationship. They are at Oxford and kind of levels above even the professors there. They are both kind of misfits and outcasts, so when they find commonalities within each other, Sherlock usually has the counterpart of Watson. He needs a counterpart in our story, too. When you get your head around the fact that they are friends, it works so well. That is credit to Matthew.
Matthew Parkhill: The question is what made Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Homes? We all know he’s a brilliant man with an amazing mind. Psychologically, what I found interesting is he’s a very strange individual. He’s quite an odd boy. He’s quite eccentric. He’s quite detached. To answer your question, the older stories are a blank page. To understand the man, you have to look at the boy.
That was sort of the starting point…The idea of the family, the loss of the sister and the friendship with Moriarty… It’s a blank page and you can just fire up the imagination. You owe a debt and fidelity to the material, but how do you arrive at that material? There are all these things that just tickle me pink, like the first time in episode two that we see his tick or fidget. The first time we see the desktop and pipe. Or the first time some of Sherlock’s most famous lines are from Moriarty. As Hero says, Sherlock couldn’t always fight. He had to learn at some point. Moriarty taught him. Again, these sort of things just tickle me. I think we take the license to explore the question of what makes the man become the man.
Do you feel the first season lays the groundwork for that iconic rivalry between Holmes and Moriarty?
Tiffin: I definitely think it does. As a fan, I have to keep pushing down this desire inside of me to hate Moriarty. After conversations with Matthew, I have completely understood…And not just through the conversations, but when you watch it back and start to explore it, you realize that we don’t actually want this friendship to end. Eventually, it must. But these guys are really two peas in a pod. We use the reference “Butch and Sundance” a lot. They are different in so many ways, but also so similar. They just make such a perfect team. There was plenty in the page. Guy and Matthew were so helpful in all of these things, as well. But as a team, with all of us, we were really conscious of trying to make them feel so synchronized. For example, practically, if we had a chunk of dialogue, me and Donal might say, “Do you mind if we do one line,” and then say I have the first chunk, Donal has every other line of mine and I have every other line of his, so we finish each other’s…
Parkhill: Sentences.
Tiffin: If there’s a noise behind us, we will both say, “OK, let’s give it a beat.” We would really make sure vocally, physically and in every aspect try and synchronize these characters so you feel they are at one and on the same wavelength.
Parkhill: The thing you have to remember is Hero and the audience knows what Moriarty becomes, but Sherlock doesn’t know. If you ask the question, “Why should I trust Moriarty?” Well, why shouldn’t you trust Moriarty? It’s the two sides of the same coin. Watson is definitely Robin to Sherlock’s Batman. Moriarty is not Robin. They are both Batman.
Tiffin: Both Batman? There’s plenty that Moriarty learns from Sherlock, but Sherlock learns so much from Moriarty. He’s such a good friend in this first season. There’s so much that Moriarty does. He defends him. He goes lengths to look out for him and when a lot of stuff happens to Sherlock, Moriarty sticks his neck out for him. We all know, as fans of Sherlock, that he will go to this darker place, but Sherlock is really fond of him.
Parkhill: For me, like I said, they are two sides of the same coin. In my head, I have a multi-season arc of how that friendship disintegrates into rivalry. But the friendship, the chemistry between these two drives the show. Sherlock would never have become Sherlock had he not met Moriarty. And Moriarty would never have become Moriarty. Action reaction. It’s the pinball in the machine. Would Moriarty have become a math professor? And I don’t think Sherlock would have become a detective. That’s just how I see it. That’s what fascinates me about their relationship is the meeting off the math lecture sets in motion a train of events, that sets them on different paths in their lives. One thing I want, if we get more seasons, is really to explore the idea of what makes one person turn to the light and what makes another person turn to the dark. They both have each in each of them, if that makes sense.
So many wonderful iterations of Sherlock Holmes are out there. Who would be your dream actor, who previously portrayed Sherlock, to appear in a cameo or as a regular or guest star?
Tiffin: I am going to show my age. When I close my eyes, I imagine Sherlock as Benedict Cumberbatch. Without trying to prove that I’ve done all my research and looked really far back, I am going to stay true to myself and say him because that’s the portrayal of Sherlock I have digested the most. It feels so true to the character. I would have to say Benedict, if I am being completely honest.
Parkhill: Nick Rowe, who plays the young Sherlock in the Barry Levinson movie, there was a moment we were going to get him to come into the show. It didn’t work out because he had a theatre commitment. I always liked the idea he would pop up as a character for the audience who know that movie. But I wonder how much Benedict would charge us to walk in the background of a shot?
Hero, one of your earliest credits was on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There’s a new Harry Potter TV series in development. If they came knocking on your door, would you be interested in being part of it in some capacity?
Tiffin: I 100 per cent would. Of course, I would love to have that conversation. It feels like a lifetime ago to me. I remember when I did the first audition, I never believed that I would ever get close. There were seven or eight call-backs, auditions, that I went in to get. I never realistically believed I would ever get the role. Every time I look back and I watch that scene, I feel even more proud of myself and I feel quite detached from the person in those scenes. As I said, it feels like a lifetime ago. But, yeah, it was such an honor to be part of such an incredible story. I think if they wanted to call, I would definitely pick up the phone.
Matthew: You might have just put an idea in their head.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
