No S**t Sherlock

It's no wonder that no one had set Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes in the present age as it had the potential to rob the Victorian crime novels of much of their allure. Not so with the BBC's new adaptation Sherlock which updates the original tales to contemporary London. The basics remain intact. Afghanistan war veteran Dr John Watson is introduced to the worlds only 'consulting detective' Sherlock Holmes, with whom he can lodge at 221b Baker Street. Watson then assists Holmes in his efforts to aid Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade with various murder cases, some of which have connections to a mysterious crime figure of Moriarty.

I'm not normally drawn to detective TV series but this one's fantastic. The writing of series creators, Mark 'League Of Gentlemen' Gatis and Stephen 'Dr Who' Moffat is great, bringing their wit, imagination and skewed view on people and the world to this adaptation. It's amusing, clever and edgy...all steering closely to the established stories of Conan Doyle (especially Moffat's first story A Study In Pink, a direct adaptation of the original A Study In Scarlett). The writers also emphasise the technology that's available to Holmes in 2010, having him use texts, Google, laptops, cameras, CCTV, mobile phones, television etc to solve the crimes.

Push and Lucky Number Slevin director Paul McGuigan helms episodes 1 and 3 with great visual flair, capturing modern London at a gritty, richly textured metropolis that evokes Holmes's original period setting. He's also inventive with his camera finding abstract, Tarantinoesque ways to communicate Sherlock's though process.

Best of all is the casting. Martin Freeman is understated as Watson, but to be honest, I've never been a huge fan of his work, and here, it's business as normal.
It's Benedict Cumberbatch who owns this series with a perfect portrayal of the great detective, capturing his brilliance, obsessive personality and unrestrained arrogance. This version of Holmes joins the exclusive ranks of Blackadder, Blakes Seven's Avon and Gene Hunt as an anti hero with utter contempt for the rest of humanity, even his friends. As with all these legends, Cumberbatch makes us like him even with his staggering displays of superiority (he asks Watson to hand him his phone...which is sat in the pocket of the jacket he's wearing at the time!)

Great fun, one that I look forward to continuing, given that confirmation of a green lit second season has been confirmed today!