I remember when I first saw that Prime Video had a hot new series called Young Sherlock, and I rolled my eyes. Do we really need one more Sherlock Holmes adaptation? Is that what the world has been asking for? One more person’s take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective? Apparently the answer is yes, because Young Sherlock is far better than it has any right to be. A big part of that comes down to Guy Ritchie. I don’t say that nearly as often as I used to. Back when he burst onto the scene with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, he had a style that nobody else could touch. Over the years, that style has been diluted a bit by bigger, more mainstream projects. But Sherlock Holmes has always been one of the characters he seems to understand best, going all the way back to the Robert Downey Jr. films, and you can feel that familiarity all over this series. He doesn’t reinvent Sherlock so much as find a fresh angle into a character that’s been adapted dozens of times already.
Instead of giving us another version of the world’s greatest detective at the height of his powers, Young Sherlock takes us back to his university days. Sherlock, played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin, is still trying to figure out who he is, working as little more than hired help around Oxford while living under the shadow of his older brother Mycroft, played by Max Irons, who already has a respectable place within the government. Naturally, Sherlock stumbles into a mystery involving assassinations, political conspiracies, and much bigger stakes than anyone realizes at first. But the biggest surprise isn’t the case. It’s the friendship at the center of it. If you’re expecting John Watson to show up as Sherlock’s first great companion, think again. Watson isn’t here. Instead, Sherlock’s closest friend is James Moriarty, played by Dónal Finn. Yes, that Moriarty. The man destined to become Sherlock Holmes’ greatest enemy is, at least for now, his closest ally, and that’s easily the smartest decision this show makes.
Watching Sherlock and Moriarty solve cases together is endlessly entertaining because they’re intellectual equals. Moriarty might be a bit more of a troublemaker, but he sees the world the same way Sherlock does. They challenge each other, finish each other’s deductions, and arrive at the same conclusions from completely different directions. Knowing where their relationship eventually ends adds an undercurrent of tragedy to every conversation they have. Every time they succeed together, you’re reminded that somewhere down the road these two are going to become mortal enemies. That’s a fascinating dynamic, and it’s something we’ve never really gotten to explore before. Without it, this would just be another story about a younger Sherlock Holmes. With it, the series suddenly has its own identity.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin more than earns the role, too. Sure, somebody out there is already screaming “nepo baby,” considering he’s the nephew of Joseph and Ralph Fiennes, but if you watch the show, it’s pretty obvious he belongs here. Joseph Fiennes even appears as Sherlock’s father, Silas Holmes, while Natascha McElhone plays his mother, Cordelia. Hero has the charisma to carry the series, and Dónal Finn is every bit his equal as Moriarty. Their chemistry is the engine that drives all eight episodes, and honestly, I could watch these two solve mysteries together for another five or six seasons if Prime Video lets them.
My one concern comes in the closing stretch of Season One. As the finale wraps up, the writers seem awfully eager to start pushing Sherlock and Moriarty toward the conflict we all know is eventually coming. I understand the temptation. Everybody knows these two are destined to become enemies, so the instinct is to start laying the groundwork early. But I’d argue that’s exactly the thing you don’t rush. Their friendship is what separates Young Sherlock from every other Holmes adaptation that’s come before it. It’s the hook. It’s the reason this series exists. If you break them apart too quickly, you’ve taken away the most original thing about your own show.
It’s a problem I see all the time whenever a property has a character who’s destined to become a villain. Writers can’t seem to resist ripping that Band-Aid off as quickly as possible instead of trusting there’s a richer story to tell first. That’s especially true with Sherlock Holmes, a character who’s been adapted so many times that everyone is looking for their own angle. Heck, in 2026 alone we got Young Sherlock, another Enola Holmes movie, and Watson, the modern-day CBS series starring Morris Chestnut. Everybody is searching for that one thing that separates their version from the hundreds that came before it. The thing that makes Young Sherlock different isn’t Guy Ritchie’s visual style, although that’s certainly part of the package. It’s Sherlock and Moriarty being friends. We’ve never really seen that before. So trying to throw that away at the end of the very first season feels, frankly, asinine.
And if Guy Ritchie somehow happens to read this review… hi. Hello, Guy Ritchie. Yeah, I said asinine. Have enough faith in yourself to believe your show is going to last longer than two seasons. Let that relationship develop naturally. Let the cracks form over time instead of forcing them because that’s what audiences supposedly expect. Season One should have ended with Sherlock and Moriarty exactly where they began: on the same side, excited for whatever case comes next. Then Season Two could begin introducing little differences in philosophy, tiny fractures that slowly become impossible to repair. That’s how you build something memorable. You don’t throw gasoline on it in the last twenty minutes because it feels like that’s what television is supposed to do.
I spent seven episodes riding a series high, and then Episode Eight rolled around and I found myself asking, “What on earth are you doing?” I understand they’re trying to set up another season, but… it’s Sherlock Holmes. There will always be another mystery. We don’t need some massive cliffhanger to convince us. It’s like trying to set up another murder for Jessica Fletcher. We just assume one is coming. We don’t need the equivalent of teasing another crime at the end of every Law & Order episode. Nobody thinks Season Two is going to open with Sherlock and Moriarty lounging on a beach somewhere, checking out the ladies, throwing keggers, and learning how to play pickleball. Of course another case is coming. The interesting part is watching them solve it together. That’s what made this first season special. It reminded me a little of X-Men: First Class. The most interesting thing about that movie was watching Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr work together, but by the end it felt obligated to rush Magneto back into the role everyone already knew. Why? Why not spend more time exploring the unfamiliar instead of racing back toward the familiar? That’s exactly what Young Sherlock had going for it.
Even with those complaints, this is still an easy recommendation from me. Seven of the eight episodes are fantastic, and the finale is still pretty good despite making a couple of choices I never would have made. The audio description is excellent across the board. It’s appropriately British without becoming distracting, and it does a great job conveying Sherlock’s little eccentricities as he’s piecing together clues. If I had one suggestion, it’d simply be to spend a little more time describing the characters themselves, but otherwise I thought the description team did an outstanding job.
I genuinely look forward to another season of Young Sherlock. The first season is full of energy, full of personality, and I liked it far more than I ever expected I would. At the same time, the way Season One ends leaves me with a lot of trepidation. I’m worried they’re going to jump the shark by pulling Sherlock and Moriarty apart far too soon, ripping off that Band-Aid before the story underneath has had a chance to breathe. I hope I’m wrong because if they resist that temptation, I think this could become one of the more memorable Sherlock Holmes adaptations in years. If you’re looking for a version of Sherlock Holmes that genuinely feels like it has something new to offer, and that’s no small feat at this point, Young Sherlock has a hook that’s absolutely worth checking out.
Fresh: 7.9/10
