Seventeen years after revisiting Sherlock Holmes on screen, Guy Ritchie returns to the world of the famous detective… by going back in time. With the series Young Sherlock, available on Prime Video, the British director focuses this time on the early life of the character created by Arthur Conan Doyle. Eight episodes offer a modern and dynamic reinterpretation of the detective's origins.
This new adaptation features a 19-year-old Sherlock, a far cry from the methodical and self-assured investigator the public knows. The young man appears rough, undisciplined, and sometimes even kleptomaniac. The story begins as he is just released from prison, before being sent by his brother Mycroft to work as a valet at Oxford University in order to get his life back on track.
A Sherlock still unstable, but already brilliant
Sherlock quickly finds himself unable to stay in his place. Fascinated by the academic world, he infiltrates lectures and attracts attention with his intelligence and keen observation skills. But trouble soon follows: he finds himself accused of stealing a priceless Chinese manuscript. To prove his innocence, he will have to unravel a complex case and identify the true culprit.
The series blends investigation, university conspiracy, and action scenes. The narrative draws from several worlds: the Oxford student atmosphere sometimes evokes Harry Potter, while the espionage plot and certain characters recall contemporary series like Killing Eve. The visual editing, meanwhile, conveys the young Holmes's thought processes with a fast-paced and highly graphic style.
A reinvented origin of the myth
As is often the case with modern Sherlock Holmes adaptations, the story takes liberties with Arthur Conan Doyle's original texts. The series notably imagines the meeting between Sherlock and James Moriarty at university. Far from being the "Napoleon of Crime," Moriarty appears here as a charismatic student who becomes the young Holmes's ally, laying the groundwork for a future rivalry.
In the lead role, Hero Fiennes Tiffin embodies this still-unstable version of the detective. Known for his role in the romantic comedy series After, the actor carries the show with an energy that perfectly matches this more fiery vision of the character.
