“It’s a three patch problem”.
I had no great hopes for this remake of Sherlock Holmes but the trailer looked intriguing enough. Usually nothing is more guaranteed to turn me off than a “reimagination” of a classic story, but this was a masterstroke. Putting Holmes into the 21st century, keeping the core of the myth (Holmes, Watson, 221b Baker Street, Mrs Hudson, the deductions, oh god the deductions, Lestrand) , ditching the fog and cobblestones, actually using modern tech rather than pretending mobile phones don’t exist, it all works. And it works especially because the tone is kept light. It reminds me a lot of Dr Who, especially the latest series, which may just be because Steven Moffat is involved in both series. Sherlock has a bit of the Whovian spirit, the sane one in a mad world; he could be wearing a fez.
Two problems with doing an updated Sherlock Holmes. There’s the usual one of course for how to show brilliance, to show somebody being much more intelligent than normal people without making the latter look subnormal. Then there’s the added problem with putting it in the here and now, when the police has so many more toys and science at their disposal and deduction looks decidedly old hat. For the most part of the first episode they’ve managed to avoid both pitfalls, helped by having Martin Freeman as Watson, as there really isn’t another actor that can pull such intelligent dumb faces…