Before Baker Street, before the legend, Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant but socially awkward nineteen year old student at Oxford. When a murder rocks the university, Holmes finds himself entangled in a conspiracy that threatens his future and forces him to test the deductive instincts he barely understands yet. What starts as a campus mystery quickly becomes something far more dangerous.
The series is created by Matthew Parkhill, with Guy Ritchie directing the opening episodes and clearly shaping the show’s energy. Ritchie’s fingerprints are all over the tone. Conversations snap along quickly, the camera moves with purpose, and even a quiet deduction scene feels like it might turn into a chase. It gives the show a confident rhythm early on, though it occasionally pushes style ahead of substance.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin takes on the daunting task of playing a younger version of one of fiction’s most famous minds. He leans into Holmes as a restless, slightly arrogant prodigy, someone who knows he’s clever but hasn’t yet learned how isolating that can be. The dynamic becomes more interesting once James Moriarty enters the story, adding a rival intellect that hints at the famous conflict to come. Colin Firth appears in a supporting role that lends a bit of old school prestige to the proceedings.
Technically, the show looks excellent. Oxford’s architecture is framed with moody elegance, all stone corridors and misty courtyards, while the score quietly builds tension whenever Holmes begins piecing things together.
The problem is the writing. The mystery is engaging enough, but the character work sometimes feels thin, and the pacing across episodes can drift. You’ll likely enjoy the style and the promise of what this Holmes might become, even if the show never fully locks into greatness.