Originally published by L.S. Media. January 5th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ****
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Rupert Graves, Mark Gatiss, Andrew Scott, Lara Pulver.
It’s been a long wait but finally television audiences were able to greet Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ version of Sherlock Holmes with open arms and once more willing to see the great detective transplanted from the ideal of 1880’s London through to the present day.
Sherlock was such a hit when it hit the small screen in 2010, questions were asked of Steven Moffat’s commitment to his other show, the hugely popular Doctor Who and with the assurance of a writer who has been there and solved it all, he took it on the chin and continued to make two of the best television show around.
The new series started off with a story called A Scandal in Belgravia; a play on the original Sherlock Holmes story of A Scandal in Bohemia, and saw our hero, played again with such dynamic and introspective precision by the amazingly talented Benedict Cumberbatch and Dr. Watson in the perilous position of being in a stand-off against Jim Moriarty. It’s been so long since the first shows ended with this preposition that anybody watching could be forgiven for thinking they have had well over a year to come up with a better resolution than the one offered. However as with all good stories, to show Sherlock’s most able nemesis having his own strings pulled by someone on the end of a phone and thereby halting the untimely death of the two men, it leaves you asking just exactly who is pulling the strings and just who is the greatest thinker in London.
There are some marvellous performances within the episode, including the superb Lara Pulver as high class dominatrix Irene Adler, Andrew Scott as the insidious and criminally insane Moriarty and co-writer Mark Gatiss as the slightly detestable, socially creepy but ultimately brilliant Mycroft Holmes.
If there can only be one gripe from any aficionado or lover of Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective and that’s the making of the one person who could be classed as Holmes’ intellectual equal a woman who has gone from adventuress to Miss Whiplash. To older fans of the books this is nothing short of selling out to sensationalism; however it works, the ideal, the tantalising look of what drives Holmes takes on a fascinating twist which is enjoyable and worthwhile.
If the idea was to go up against the Guy Ritchie film and the talent on offer in Sherlock Holmes; Game of Shadows then it’s a tight call after one episode to even take a calculated guess on who will eventually come out on top as the definitive master of deduction for the 21st Century. However with the team behind the programme being amongst some of the finest working in television it could eventually be an elementary assessment to make.
There are two more episodes in the series to go and if it’s as thoughtful, well written and well executed as this opener then fans are in for a great ride.
Sherlock is on Sundays on B.B.C. Television
Picture by victorianvisualculture.wordpress.com
Ian D. Hall