Big Hollywood’s John Nolte put me onto this BBC production, and what a find it is. Sherlock – Sherlock Holmes in the modern world – how can anything sound that terrible and be this incredibly good? “Delightful,” overused as it is, is really the word for it. Wonderful, wonderful writing and the cast is virtually perfect. To be clear, the idea is not that Holmes travels in time or anything, simply that he is a man born in modern London rather than the Victorian era.
It’s hard to convey how well this is worked out imaginatively – plus I don’t want to give anything away. But kudos to creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat for a seamless transition. Part of the fun is watching how naturally, how completely Holmes fits in in our technological, culturally diverse, psychologically pathologizing world… although it’s a little depressing that Dr. Watson is still a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan! Don’t they ever end?
Anyway, the whole thing rests on the wildly engaging performances of the two leads, the startlingly-named Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman – who had a sweet turn in Love, Actually – as Watson. The first three 90-minute episodes of this are available on instant streaming from Netflix, so if you’re looking for something to kick back and enjoy this weekend, try it out.
Show contains the usual murder story mayhem. I can’t recall now whether there’s any cursing or not. Some not-that-anything’s-wrong-with-that jokes about Holmes and Watson living together (no, they’re not gay). Off-hand, I’d say it’s not for little kids, but over 13 or so should enjoy it, depending on what you generally let them watch.
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