New Sherlock Holmes Show Is Now Streaming: Where To Watch & What Critics Are Saying

Sherlock Holmes has a new TV adaptation with a twist thanks to Young Sherlock, and its first season is now streaming. As one of the most popular literary characters of all time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has been adapted to all types of media for decades. In recent years, Sherlock Holmes has found great success on TV thanks to modern adaptations.

Now, the Great Detective and company have a new TV adaptation that takes viewers to Victorian times: Young Sherlock. Based on Andrew Lane’s book series of the same name, in turn inspired by the works of Conan Doyle, Young Sherlock stars Hero Fiennes Tiffin as a 19-year-old Sherlock Holmes. All episodes of Young Sherlock are now available to stream, and it’s already a hit with critics.

Young Sherlock Season 1 Is Out On Prime Video

Young Sherlock is a Prime Video original series, with Matthew Parkhill serving as showrunner and with Guy Ritchie among its executive producers. As mentioned above, Young Sherlock goes back to the Victorian era, a time setting fitting with Conan Doyle’s stories, and it introduces a teenage Holmes at Oxford University.

There, he meets James Moriarty (Dónal Finn), a brilliant student with whom he quickly bonds, and the newly arrived Princess Shou’an (Zine Tseng). After Sherlock is framed for the murder of an Oxford professor, he and James set out to clear his name and find who is behind the murder. What they aren’t counting on is that this will unleash a series of mysteries that will uncover some dark secrets.

This first season of Young Sherlock is eight episodes long, making it perfect to binge-watch, especially as every episode is packed with clues, small details, and twists that lead to a major twist and reveal near the end.

What Critics Are Saying About Young Sherlock

Moriarty Shou'An and Sherlock in Young Sherlock — Moriarty Shou’An and Sherlock in Young Sherlock

At the time of writing, Young Sherlock has an 86% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, which places it above the BBC’s Sherlock and the current modern adaptation Watson. So far, Young Sherlock is getting praise from critics, mostly for its pace, tone, and the performances of its main cast, particularly that of Fiennes Tiffin.

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One element that has been praised in most reviews is the chemistry between Fiennes Tiffin and Finn, which Variety called “the most engaging” part of the show, as well as the portrayal of a young Moriarty, offering some much-needed backstory to Holmes’ famous archenemy. The editing and action in Young Sherock have also been very well-received, especially because they are Guy Ritchie’s trademarks.

Of course, critics also have a lot of great things to say about the mystery in Young Sherlock. The show’s mystery was going to be what makes or breaks the show, and it thankfully succeeds and even surpasses expectations. Collider praises the unraveling mystery in Young Sherlock, which links different elements that seem to have no connection at all.

However, the way Young Sherlock builds up the mystery and suspense has also drawn some criticism. To some, the show gets messy in the way it adds mystery over mystery over mystery before giving a resolution to the first one (as pointed out by The Wrap), but most critics agree that Young Sherlock is a fun and engaging watch.

Who Stars In Young Sherlock

James Moriarty, Cordelia Holmes, and Sherlock in Young Sherlock

Young Sherlock has a solid cast with new talents and well-known actors. Leading the show is Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who made his acting debut in 2008 in the British black comedy movie Bigga than Ben. Fiennes Tiffin played 11-year-old Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2009, and in 2019, he starred as Hardin Scott in the After movie series. In 2024, he played Henry Hayes in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Hero Fiennes Tiffin is the nephew of Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.

Dónal Finn started his acting career in theater in 2018 before playing Nettly in Netflix’s The Witcher and Karl Boden in the movie How to Build a Girl. In 2022, he played Albert in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, and broke big when he was cast as Mat Cauthon in The Wheel of Time.

Accompanying Fiennes Tiffin and Finn is Max Irons, who plays Mycroft Holmes. Irons’ most notable roles to date are Lucius in 2009s’ Dorian Gray, Henry in Red Riding Hood, and Jared in The Host. Young Sherlock’s Princess Shou’an, Zine Tseng, is best known for playing Ye Wenjie in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem.

Young Sherlock also counts on the talents of Colin Firth as Sir Bucephalus Hodge, Natascha McElhone as Cordelia Holmes, and Ralph Fiennes as Silas Holmes. Firth has an extensive filmography, with some of his most notable projects being The King’s Speech, The English Patient, Mamma Mia!, and the Bridget Jones movies. McElhone is best known for her roles as Sylvia in The Truman Show and Lady Romsey in The Crown.

As for Fiennes, his most notable projects are Shakespeare in Love, American Horror Story: Asylum (where he played Monsignor Timothy Howard), and The Handmaid’s Tale, where he played Commander Fred Waterford.

Does Young Sherlock Tie Into The Sherlock Holmes Movies?

Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Sherlock Holmes in Young Sherlock

Despite many details that might point to a strong tie between them, Young Sherlock isn’t part of the same universe as Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson. Instead, Young Sherlock lives in its own universe, but there are some undeniable similarities between the show and the movies, all thanks to Ritchie’s involvement.

Young Sherlock has a similar pace and tone to Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies, as well as exciting action scenes reminiscent of those starring Downey Jr. and Law, and the way Sherlock’s thought process is portrayed in the show is very fitting with the style of the movies. Young Sherlock could easily be a prequel to Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes, but ultimately, they are different versions of the Great Detective.

While it might be disappointing that there’s no real connection between Young Sherlock and Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies, the show can easily stand on its own. Young Sherlock is a must-watch for fans of Sherlock Holmes, Guy Ritchie’s works, and detective TV shows, in general, offering a different and fresh look at the most famous detective of all and expanding on his story and that of his famous enemy.

Sources: Variety, Collider, The Wrap.