If you have, for some obscure reason, not yet tuned into Sherlock, the BBCs new Sherlock-Holmes-of-the-future venture, then I am here to fix this. It is essentially a modernised Sherlock Holmes, in much the same way the BBC have adapted Doctor Who from Tom Baker donned in long scarf and un-styled hair to a rather dazzling young man leaping about with perpetually-noted eyebrow movements.
It's unsurprising to learn that the writers are by Stepehn Moffat and Mark Gatiss (Doctor Who grandmaster chappie, and, in turn, Doctor Who actor). Luckily though, they are actually different, with Sherlock as a darker, more sardonic show - it's not just Doctor Who fan fodder for whilst the show's off air.
"Modernised!" you shudder! Yes, and all whilst not deviating from the key detective-icity that makes the Sherlock Holmes stories brilliant - coming across as much of a nonsensical whimsy adventure as that of an excited Dalziel and Pascoe. The modernisation is both at once silly and brilliant with much of the latter in the delivery.
We're introduced to Martin Freeman as a more intelligent Watson - delightfully and instantly lovable as with most shows he appears in - who meets Holmes, an angular cheek-boned Benedict Cumberbatch as a self-described "high functioning socio-path". (Cumberbatch, it seems, has a bit of thing for appearing in first-name dramas, playing Stepehn Hawking, in the 2004 film, Hawking.)
Brilliantly contemptuous and perpetually baffled as to how regular man doesn't find life dull, he texts, he uses GPS, and sticks at least three nicotine patches on 'to think'. It's not cocaine, a cigarette, cigar, or a pipe, but "It's impossible to smoke in London these days," Holmes explains. It is silly, but the delivery's brilliant. When Holmes searches the bodies, the deductions from the clues appear on screen and you're given a brief amount of time to predict them.
As a downside though, whilst the first episode was a brilliant 90 minutes, the second episode' lacked the punchy dialogue of the first. Mostly though, it's got the right amount of speedy, wonderful deductions about people, the right amount of character wankerness ("Anderson, don't talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the whole street.") and most crucially, it doesn't seem horribly contrived as the premise might suggest.
Curiously there's both Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who references in there (luckily, they're not too noticeable unless you've memorised the script). It is different from the original, but enjoyably so, and it's definitely not the enjoyable but nonsensical farce that hit the cinema last year. If you're easily intrigued by the Sherlock Holmes stories, possibly have a penchant for Jonathon Creek and clue-based logic, then you'll love it.
You can watch both the first episode "A Study in Pink" and the second instalment "The Blind Banker" on thei Player. The third (and for now) final episode of Sherlock, "The Great Game" airs this Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.
Find out more about Sherlock on the Sherlock Official Website