@joelkeller Published March 4, 2026, 3:00 p.m. ET Where to Stream: Young Sherlock Powered by Reelgood More On: sherlock holmes Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Watson’ Season 2 On CBS, Where Watson And His Medical Team Deal With The Moriarty Fallout As Sherlock Holmes Re-enters His Life Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Watson’ On CBS, Where Dr. John Watson Sets Up A Medical Mystery-Solving Clinic In The Wake Of Sherlock Holmes’ Death ‘Sherlock’ Season 4 Was Actually Great, Despite What The Haters Say From Sherlock Holmes To ‘The Kid Detective,’ A Brief 4-20 Exploration Into Why So Many Detectives Turn To Drugs Prime Video’s new series Young Sherlock is based on Andrew Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes novels that took Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective and created an origin story for him. It was developed by Matthew Parkhill, Peter Harness and Guy Ritchie, with Ritchie directing the first episode, so you know that the show’s going to have some of Ritchie’s stylistic touches. But will those overwhelm the characters and mysteries Sherlock investigates?
Opening Shot: The blurry inside of a prison cell. Then we see a boy collecting bugs by a riverbank. His sister wants to play with him, but then she disappears. A man wakes up in a prison cell.
The Gist: That man is Sherlock Holmes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), who has been doing a six-month stint in prison for not just petty theft — he wanted to try out his pickpocketing skills but always gave people back what he takes — plus contempt of court. As he’s in the courtyard fighting a much bigger man, his older brother Mycroft (Max Irons) comes to bail him out.
After a haircut, shave and bath, Mycroft informs the college-age Sherlock that he’s gotten him into Oxford, and they’re going there so Mycroft can keep an eye on him. When they get to the university, though, Sherlock finds out that his brother didn’t enroll him, but got him a job as a porter, perhaps to keep him humble.
In the meantime, Gulun Shou’an (Zine Tseng), a young princess from China, is heading to Oxford to study, and when robbers intercept her carriage, looking for her the ancient scrolls she has with her, they also kidnap her. But she can handle herself and returns to the carriage with the scrolls.
Still, Sherlock studies and observes while cleaning up, taking particular interest in a math text written by Professor Charles Thompson (Paul Antony-Barber). When he corrects Thompson during a class, not only does the princess notice, but another student: James Moriarty (Dónal Finn). Also, during a reception held by top school benefactor Bucephalus Hodge (Colin Firth), he makes sure to embarrass Myrcoft. Hodge is intrigued by Sherlock, much to Mycroft’s annoyance.
Sherlock and Moriarty hit it off and soon they’re doing things like crashing society parties; after a fight ensues, they escape to the library (Sherlock has all the keys), where Moriarty contemplates taking the scrolls. After they leave, though, the scrolls are stolen, and Hodge, along with Constable Lestrad (Scott Reid) of the police, immediately suspect Sherlock and Moriarty.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Young Sherlock has the signature Ritchie stylistic touches that we saw in shows like The Gentlemen, combined with the deduction gymnastics we saw in various Holmes-related series, like Sherlock, PBS’s The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes and others. Ritchie also directed two Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. starring as the detective.
Our Take: While Young Sherlock certainly has the look of a Guy Ritchie production — modern soundtrack, tilting camera angles, lots of quippy action — the director’s style isn’t laid on so thick that it distracts the viewer from seeing how a college-age Sherlock Holmes manages to solve mysteries at Oxford, with the surprisingly-not-evil-yet James Moriarty as his partner in deduction.
Parkhill, who is the showrunner, and his writers have made sure that the younger Sherlock doesn’t stray too far from what the older Sherlock is like: Always curious, always getting himself into hot water because of that curiosity, insanely smart, and preternaturally observant. Of course, as with anyone who’s college age, he’s less disciplined and more impish, which is why he and Moriarty get along so famously.
It does seem that the format of the series is going to have Sherlock solving various mysteries while an overall arc, a series of murders, is also happening. We also suspect that the beginnings of the fracture between Sherlock and Moriarty will show as the season goes along. For now, though, Young Sherlock is fun and fast-moving, with Fiennes Tiffin and Finn having good chemistry as Sherlock and Moriarty.
Performance Worth Watching: Colin Firth’s Bucephalus Hodge is a pompous rich guy, but as you might expect from the Oscar winner, Firth gives Hodge some shading that makes him more than just pompous and rich.
Parting Shot: Sherlock awakes from another dream about the death of his sister Beatrice (Purdy Hughes) and finds himself under arrest for murder.
Sleeper Star: Natascha McElhone plays Cordelia, Sherlock and Mycroft’s mother, who is suffering from some mental issues. Joseph Fiennes plays their father Silas.
Most Pilot-y Line: “Well don’t mind me, I’m just an Ashkenazi side dish,” Moriarty says to the princess after she comes to see Sherlock after the scrolls are recovered. That made us scramble to look up Moriarty’s genealogy instead of paying attention to the scene.
Our Call: STREAM IT. While Young Sherlock is certainly stylish, it doesn’t forsake substance for that style, setting up Sherlock Holmes’ first big case in a way that digs into the characters of Sherlock, Moriarty and others that are familiar to Holmes fans.
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Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
