Sherlock Season One Dvd Review

BBC America – Warner Home Video Entertainment / Region 1 / Released November 2010

Yes this is fabulous, yes this is a dazzling re-invention of a classic character and yes this is one of the best shows we’ve seen all year! Ok, it’s stating the obvious that we kinda liked Sherlock here at MemTV towers. With it’s first rate behind the scenes crew, not least series creators Stephen Moffat (the current guiding light of Dr Who) and Mark Gatiss (ex-League of Gentlemen, sometime Dr Who contributor and all round genius) and brilliant casting – Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the best actors working in the industry at the moment and is just perfect as this slightly off kilter Sherlock and add to the mix a doleful Martin Freeman as faithful sidekick and just returned from Afghanistan Dr Watson and you’ve got one gem of a series.

This is no foggy Victorian take on Sherlock Holmes though, it is set firmly in the present day with Sherlock making ample use of technology and racing around London at breakneck speed in hot pursuit of evil doers. All the familiar trappings are here though – the 221b Baker Street address, Mrs Hudson the housekeeper (played by the fabulous Una Stubbs), Chief Inspector Lestrade (another winning performance from Rupert Graves) and Holmes’ brother Mycroft (here working for the government and played by Gatiss himself) and not forgetting chief villain Moriarty who cast a sinister web over the whole season.

This two disc set features all three feature length episodes ( A Study In Pink, The Blind Banker and The Great Game as well as some great extras, best of which is the original hour long pilot of “Pink” (Sherlock was originally planned as an hour long series until the BBC decided to go for the larger budget feature length route), there is a also a making of featurette and audio commentaries from cast and crew on episodes 1 and 3.

Awesome and definitely a must see release!