Sherlock

Once again this proves that the BBC Licence Fee is one of the finest ideas this country as ever had.

Moffat's sharp dialogue and subtle character development sit excellently alongside Gattis natural flair for the uncanny and his talent for mystery stories; so evident in his novels as well as his League of Gentlemen work.

The modernisation works artfully, showing that the challenges Holmes faced were not merely a question of his better scientific method keeping him ahead of the police. Watson benefit even more from the modern setting, the circular nature of history making his recent experiences in Afghanistan even more relevant than they can seem in the novels.

The cinematography and editing was excellent (a feature that was much improved in the recent series of Doctor Who), the display of text messages stylish and deceptively simple.

All in all this was a triumph for the BBC, and showed the benefit of their nurturing of talents such as Moffat and Gattis over the past decade.

I have been an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes from a very young age, and my first reaction upon hearing of a modern TV remake was "oh bugger, they are so going to screw this up". However, i am glad to report that, unlike so many other TV adaptations and especially ones that modernise, i found it witty, clever and above all, entertaining. It was extremely reverential of its considerable pedigree and included a large number of coded references and callbacks for the more avid fan, e.g. the use of scratches around a persons mobile phone charger port to indicate a drunkard rather than a pocket watches winding keyhole. I imagine many were irked by this and as i can see from the ratings many did not care for it at all, but for me it was simply sublime, and well deserving of a 10 out of 10

I think it is always a bit uncertain and tricky when a 19th century series or film is modernised and most of the time it doesn't work, especially if it is well known and liked but I was very very impressed. Benedict does a brilliant job portraying the famous sleuth and made a 19th century character and modern day London merge beautifully. Martin Freeman was also great as Dr Watson. Rupert Graves made a brilliant Lestrade. It was sharp, quick and kept you on your toes and you just couldn't wait to see what happened next, this was of course completed by brilliant acting from the actors. I'm so pleased it got favourable reviews from the critics, roll on the next episode!!!!

To my surprise they absolutely nailed it. Cumberbatch is a fantastic choice for Sherlock Holmes-he is physically right (he fits the traditional reading of the character) and he is a damn good actor. Martin Freeman, about whom I wasn't sure at first, is an excellent foil for Holmes without being the dumb sidekick that Dr Watson has often been. I thought that this series would not work, particularly after Robert Downey's interesting take on Conan Doyle's characterisation. I have been proved so wrong-it moved along at a good pace and held the attention brilliantly. My wife started by saying she didn't like it but by the end of the episode she was as enthralled as I. We are both looking forward to the rest of the series, if it is as entertaining as the first story. I was disappointed to read some reviews here that did not love it. Methinks they are too jaded to enjoy anything.

Sherlock is such an absolutely brilliant show! All you have to do is read through some of the reviews to see how loved this show really is. It's one of the best rated tv shows on just about every website for a reason...because it's incredible! There have been a lot of different versions of Sherlock Holmes with a bunch of really good ones (Robert Downey Jr., Jonny Lee Miller) and with some really bad ones but Benedict Cumberbatch is the best of them!