Inspired by Andrew Lane’s “Young Sherlock Holmes” novels and with Guy Ritchie as director, Prime Video’s “Young Sherlock” is sensational. The series, which was adapted by Matthew Parkhill, remixes the beloved figure to deliver all the traits fans know and love — with more than one twist. The show turns Victorian England on its head, infusing it with modern energy while offering an intricate mystery anchored by singular characters and extraordinary circumstances.
“Young Sherlock” begins long before the legendary detective acquires his signature deerstalker cap and pipe. At 19, Sherlock (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) can’t stay out of trouble. It’s 1871, and Sherlock’s claim to fame is that he’s mastered the art of pickpocketing. Although his sticky fingers have landed him a six-month prison sentence, his esteemed older brother, Mycroft (Max Irons), comes to his aid. With their father, Silas (Joseph Fiennes, who is Fiennes Tiffin’s real-life uncle), away on business and their mother, Cordelia (Natascha McElhone), confined to a mental institution, Mycroft guides Sherlock onto the right path by offering him a new job.
A role as a scout or a housekeeping staffer at Oxford University doesn’t exactly tickle Sherlock’s fancy. Then the precious scrolls of Princess Gulun Shou’an (Zine Tseng), the distinguished guest of Sir Bucephalus Hodge (Colin Firth), go missing. When Sherlock and scholarship student James Moriarty (an exceptional Dónal Finn) are blamed, the two team up to find the relic and exonerate themselves. Yet the case of the missing artifact is the least of their worries. In a striking turn of events, the duo land in the middle of a murder investigation that leads them to the highest halls of government.
