Young Sherlock is Nothing Like Guy Ritchie’s Movies (but That’s Somehow Not a Bad Thing) [Review]

If you were to read the headline that Guy Ritchie was making a Sherlock Holmes series, you could be forgiven for immediately thinking of Robert Downey Jr’s charming performance from his team-up with the British director. On that front, I have bad news: Ritchie’s Young Sherlock is a completely separate entity, unrelated from Ritchie’s other Holmes franchise. Confusing, yes, but it doesn’t actually limit the prequel at all. In fact, it allows it to breathe on its own.

Holmes – aged 19 and not yet fond of the deer-stalker that traditional adaptations saddle him with (and which Ritchie also ignored for his sexier RDJ-led take almost 20 years ago) – is played here by the delightfully named Hero Fiennes Tiffin. His Holmes is an upstart, arrested for pickpocketing, and given a chance of a new, straighter life by elder brother Mycroft (Max Irons) before, naturally, a series of unfortunate events cast him again on the wrong side of the law. Nothing here sounds particularly ground-breaking, but as with basically every Ritchie project, the currency is entertainment, and Young Sherlock delivers well.

Rating: 4 out of 5

PROS	CONS
Both leads are excellent, but Dónal Finn is the stand-out as Moriarty	Some tropes feel a little familiar
A new take that feels both fresh and respectful of the wider lore
Great storytelling and character development
Big on fun

Young Sherlock’s Cast is its Best Asset

Story is obviously important, but again, as with lots of Ritchie’s work, there’s magic in the casting. Hero Fiennes Tiffin is very good, Colin Firth is excellent as Sir Bucephalus Hodge (as is his facial hair), and The Wheel of Time‘s Dónal Finn is particularly good as a new take on James Moriarty. Chemistry is also key: as this is a fresh take, some changes are necessary, with Moriarty and Holmes forced to work together to clear their name when some valuable scrolls are stolen from Hodge’s residence. Not exactly high crimes of today, but perfect for this setting, and the setup allows for great shared screentime for the two leads. We also get to see the seeds of their difference sewn across the 8-episode run.

This being a Guy Ritchie joint, dialogue matters a lot, and there’s a lot of humor, and barbed one-liners. And that’s without Watson even being involved. It helps that this Sherlock isn’t yet fully formed: he’s not the self-assured greatest mind in the room, and he’s not actually all that great at detecting. Ritchie builds in growth, and that means we get to see Sherlock step towards the legend while closely bonding with someone we know will become his mortal enemy. As I say, Finn is very good, but Hero Tiffin Fiennes offers balance, without ever falling into the caricatures of some of the more modern Holmes interpretations that seem to always embrace neurodivergence as an intended character trait.

Ritchie’s Directing Captures The Right Recipe For Young Sherlock

You can never accuse Guy Ritchie of passing on a good thing: his frenetic pacing and editing style is a signature of all of his work (apart, maybe, from Aladdin, where Disney called the shots more than any auteur could), and Young Sherlock is another prime example. His approach means the 8 episodes zip by incredibly fast, with a sort of quirky caper feel to things, and probably a less adult feel than you might be used to from the mind behind The Gentlemen. Naturally, there are puzzles along the way, and at least one very good – and pretty seismic – twist to shake things up.

My own concern before I saw any of it is that Sherlock Holmes sits alongside Robin Hood and King Arthur as very good characters who have been adapted to the point of redundancy. But I had the same feeling before Ritchie’s movies, and I should have learned not to be so foolish from that experience. Because Ritchie’s take here is new and entertaining, and not in a way that casts aside the lore for the sake of it. Young Sherlock feels like an exciting new addition to a very familiar universe, unconcerned about making a pure adaptation, but faithful enough that the bolt-ons are very welcome. I already want more of it.

All 8 episodes of Young Sherlock Season 1 will release on Prime Video from March 4.

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