We'll Take Manhattan

This review can also be found on Step2TV.

In 1962, photographer David Bailey and the yet-to-be-discovered supermodel Jean Shrimpton were sent to New York on a prestigious Vogue photoshoot. We’ll Take Manhattan, starring Aneurin Barnard as Bailey and Karen Gillan as Shrimpton, tells the story of their love affair and how their controversial shoot inadvertently helped shape the face of a decade.

Starring in what is essentially the biopic of Bailey’s early career, Aneurin Barnard brilliantly portrays the role of the laddish, cocksure photographer on the shoot that would make his career. Having landed himself a job as a photographer for Vogue magazine, Bailey meets aspiring model Jean Shrimpton on a shoot, and soon she becomes the focus of his muse. Although he was already married when they met, Bailey and Shrimpton’s explosive love affair was destined to set both of their careers into motion.

When he’s hired for a prestigious Vogue shoot in New York with the magazine’s fashion editor, Lady Clare Rendlesham (Helen McCrory), Bailey specifically requests that Jean Shrimpton is his model. Inspired by his passion for Shrimpton, Bailey dares to take photographs that break the rules. Refusing to conform with regulations (something he was already prone to do, having extra-marital affairs with his models), Bailey's ground-breaking imagery was a first in fashion, stripping away the pretense of the industry in favour of something more natural, raw and alive.

In the role of Jean Shrimpton, Karen Gillan provides a wonderfully natural performance, managing to portray her as innocent and unassuming, in the thrall of Bailey, but with enough edge to not make her seem too naive. Gillan was absolutely spot on and perfect in the role of the aspiring model; although with Gillan’s looks, it certainly made a mockery of Lady Clare’s quips about Shrimpton not being good-looking enough!

Although the story was about the relationship between Bailey and his muse, Shrimpton, the main narrative of We’ll Take Manhattan was largely founded in the conflict between the old guard of fashion photography and the revolutionary, albeit rebellious, vision of the future. Frequently going head-to-head, the prim and proper Lady Clare and the brash Cockney Bailey represented the stark differences between the previous rigid conventions and the emerging fresh youth culture that was soon to take precedence. At times this conflict felt a little two dimensional, with Bailey sometimes coming across as a Rebel Without a Tripod rather than a stifled artistic genius, but ultimately it showed his determination to realise his vision, which would go on to create some of the most influential and iconic images of the sixties.

Overall, although it was a little two-dimensional at times, We’ll Take Manhattan was a stylistically filmed and enjoyable piece of television with a strong vibe of early sixties. If you missed it, the film is available on BBC iPlayer here.

Side by Side - The Science, Art and Impact of Digital Cinema

This article can also be found on Step2TV.

For almost a century, the only way to make movies was with photochemical film, but in the past 20 years or so a digital approach to the film-making process has been on the rise. In this new documentary, produced by Keanu Reeves, Justin Szlasa and Christopher Kenneally, Side by Side takes an in-depth look into the art of film-making and it’s digital revolution.

Investigating the history and processes of both digital and photochemical film, Side by Side’s examination of all aspects of film-making covers everything from capture to edit to distribution, and everything in between. In a time when both digital and photochemical film co-exist side by side, this documentary explores the various aspects of the two approaches to film-making; what has been gained, what has been lost, and where the future might take us.

Keanu Reeves leads the documentary, exploring every aspect of the film industry and conducting interviews with the likes of George Lucas, James Cameron, the Wachowskis, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese to name but a few! Side by Side takes a look into the varying perspectives on the digital revolution, ranging from James Cameron stating “You can’t shoot 3D on film, so film has been dead in my heart for ten years,” to Wally Pfister, cinematographer for films such as The Dark Knight and Inception, with a completely different view; “I hate 3D. I put on those glasses, I get sick to my stomach. The whole 3D phenomenon, it’s a marketing scheme, isn’t it?”

I’m inclined to agree with Pfister on that one; you can’t move for films promising the Holy Grail of a third dimension, but I don’t really feel that it adds anything special to a film. Sorry Cameron, as much as I admire your work, I have yet to be converted into thinking that 3D is the future for film! I feel a film worth it’s merit can stand on it’s own two feet without the added illusion of physical depth, so to me that extra dimension is nothing more than a gimmick. (Also, I find it difficult to fit both regular glasses and those 3D ones on my face... Makes me feel like Hugh Grant wearing his prescription goggles in Notting Hill, and probably looks just as ridiculous!)

In the trailer, George Lucas talks about how the rise of digital film-making has democratised the process, something echoed in the words of actress and director Lena Dunham, who said; “Without digital video culture I don’t think I would ever have been making movies because I always thought that you had to have a certain type of knowledge. Basically, in my head I was like, ‘You’ve got to be a dude who knows how to operate machines to do this job.’”

However, in the final line of the trailer I believe Martin Scorsese sums it up perfectly... “The issue is – it’s different. How is it different, and how do you use it to tell a story? It’s up to the film-maker.”

Side by Side certainly looks like it will be a fascinating documentary, and I can’t wait until I get a chance to see it! The film will have it’s world premiere at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival’s Special Section. For more information about the film, check out the site at www.sidebysidethemovie.com, and you can see the rather intriguing trailer below.

Side by Side Official Trailer (2012) from Company Films on Vimeo.

Sherlock - The Reichenbach Fall

This review can also be found on Step2TV.

With top level security breaches at the Tower of London, the Bank of England and Pentonville Prison, the criminal mastermind James Moriarty returns with a flourish. The goal behind his elaborate scheme; to bring down Sherlock Holmes. In the final episode of Sherlock’s second series, scripted by Steve Thompson, this modern reworking of The Final Problem - Holmes and Moriarty’s final battle - was the perfect finale for this superb series.

Having gained the attention of the authorities by staging a number of high profile security breaches - set to the tune of The Thieving Magpie Overture by Gioachino Rossini, and adorning himself in the crown jewels after breaking into the Tower of London - Jim Moriarty is taken into custody and put on trial. The star witness; one mister Sherlock Holmes. Heralded as the Hero of Reichenbach after retrieving the stolen Turner painting, The Great Falls of Reichenbach (a nod to previous adaptations, with Holmes and Moriarty duelling against this alpine backdrop) Sherlock is gaining greater recognition for his work, rising to celebrity status and being pestered by journalists for an exclusive scoop (such as Kitty Riley, played by Katherine Parkinson). And now he’s summoned to provide evidence against his arch-nemesis in court...

However, despite having no defence whatsoever and overwhelming evidence stacked against him, Moriarty is acquitted of his crimes and walks free. This is just phase one of Moriarty’s game, having used people on the inside to help orchestrate his elaborate break-ins, and blackmailing the jury to affect their verdict - as he put it; “every person has their pressure point.” Alluding to owe Sherlock a fall, the consulting criminal leaves the great detective a trail of bread crumbs, leading him into a web of deception. As he comes to his ever-astounding deductions, Sherlock brings the case to a close, but Moriarty’s plan runs far deeper than that... People are beginning to have doubts, and as things go on they become more and more convinced - Sherlock Holmes is a fraud. His deductions are so impossibly accurate that people begin to suspect that Sherlock has been creating these cases himself in order to appear like the world’s greatest detective, and Sherlock soon finds himself on the run.

Systematically dismantling Sherlock’s reputation and credibility, Moriarty is all but done with bringing about the defeat of his only worthy rival. Atop the roof of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Holmes and Moriarty meet for their final battle, and the master criminal forces his nemesis into a checkmate; if Sherlock Holmes doesn’t take his own life on this very rooftop, then the lives of those he holds dear will be at risk...

The Reichenbach Fall was a phenomenal adaptation of what Conan Doyle had intended to be his last Sherlock Holmes story. The title provided not only an allusion to the original tale, but both the literal and metaphorical fall of Sherlock Holmes - the Hero of Reichenbach. Masterfully scripted and beautifully paced, The Reichenbach Fall provided an exemplary battle between the two geniuses - not with guns or swords, but with words and mind games. How else would Sherlock Holmes do battle with the one man capable of matching his intellect?

This episode saw the return of Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty, and in much greater capacity than before. As remarked on in my review of A Scandal in Belgravia, Scott’s Moriarty doesn’t conform to the regulation of being a stiff, gentlemanly villain of other adaptations, but delves down the route of being playfully insane and disturbing. As the Yin to Sherlock’s Yang (or is it the other way around?), the duality of Moriarty’s mania and Sherlock’s seriousness makes for quite a juxtaposition between the two characters. There’s something tantalisingly unhinged about Scott’s Moriarty, with each line delightfully laced with a cocktail of eccentricity and menace. Although it would require a lot of explaining, and breaking the Conan Doyle canon, it would be a shame for this to be the end of Sherlock’s greatest nemesis and his joyous portrayal by Andrew Scott.

Again revealing another side to Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch’s spectacular performance gave a glimpse of the stoic detective knowing that he was involved in a conflict he couldn’t hope to win. Unlike the crippling fear of The Hound, The Fall showed a man acknowledging his death was likely to be close at hand, but keeping it bottled up to save face. Surprisingly, in his time of dire need, Sherlock turns to Molly Hooper, the woman both hopelessly in love with and rejected by the ineffable detective, and fantastically portrayed by Louise Brealey. In the taut climatic scene on the roof of the hospital, Cumberbatch’s shaken Sherlock leaves his suicide note by way of a phone-call to John - who’s stood helplessly below - in his last moments before he jumps...

It’s revealed in the very last second of the episode that, unbeknownst to everyone (except presumably Molly, if my deductions are correct - which they often are!), Sherlock has somehow cheated death. So why is it that the audience is in tears by the end? Simple; Martin Freeman’s outstanding performance. He’s always been fantastic as John Watson throughout both series, but in these final scenes we see a former military man truly distraught at the death of his friend, completely broken hearted and attempting to maintain his composure. As the body crumpled on the pavement is turned over to reveal it’s Sherlock’s corpse, Freeman captured the melancholic essence of realisation and devastation at his deep sense of loss and mourning just by uttering the simple words; “Jesus no. God no.” This is truly another BAFTA worthy performance from Freeman!

And so, with it evident that there will be a third series, the question on the lips of the audience is “how did he manage to cheat death?” In The Final Problem, the death of Sherlock Holmes was dealt with by two trails of footprints leading up the mountain path, but none returning - leaving it open enough for his return. However, as The Reichenbach Fall showed the supposed death of Sherlock, it begs to question how the great detective managed to achieve this ultimate deception, and how the writers will resolve this next series.

I have developed a couple of theories which may explain how Sherlock managed to fake his death... There's a small, open-topped truck filled with bags of rubbish parked just next to where Sherlock's corpse supposedly landed. Jumping from the roof of the hospital, the detective lands in the back of the truck – the refuse is likely to have come from the hospital, so a large degree of it may be discarded scrubs - the rubbish breaking Sherlock's fall. Having requested Molly's help earlier, she may have thrown a cadaver adorned in Sherlock-esque clothes from a lower window, thus providing the corpse (alternatively, it may have been the mannequin seen hanging from a noose in 221b Baker Street earlier). The truck pulls away shortly afterwards - if a body lands next to your truck, you don’t just drive off! Sherlock had asked John to stand in a particular place, one which conveniently concealed where his body was found, presumably ensuring John couldn’t observe the stunt accurately, subsequently obscuring the assassin's view too.

As for why the body resembled Sherlock (if we presume it was not actually Sherlock's body), this is where the theory begins to fall down... It could've been an incredibly good lookalike - unlikely - or, seeing as the kidnapped girl was terrified by the sight of Sherlock, it could be an incredibly accurate mask created and worn by Moriarty during the kidnapping, recovered by Sherlock and used to help stage his death... Neither of these seem particularly likely.

A far more likely (and quite possibly my favourite) theory, is that the body is in fact Sherlock's and, having had his fall broken by the rubbish truck as in the above paragraph, he uses the time that John is on the floor to arrange himself convincingly on the pavement. The body that initially hits the floor (as there must be one for this theory to work; when he jumps, Sherlock is perpendicular to the hospital but the body that hits the floor is parallel to it, plus John sees a body on the pavement from a distance, just prior to being knocked over), was merely a decoy to fill the gap in between Sherlock landing in the rubbish truck and getting into position on the floor. The gathering crowd - stooges hired to aid in the deception. In order to appear convincingly dead, Sherlock uses an age old magic trick; squeezing a squash ball (as seen earlier in the episode, with Sherlock bouncing it against a cabinet) beneath his armpit, tight enough to temporarily cut off his pulse.

(Another, and more far-fetched, theory is that some time before his confrontation with Moriarty, Sherlock may have ingested rhododendron ponticum - traces of which were found in Moriarty's footprint earlier on -, the pollen of which can, if consumed in sufficient quantities, bring about severe hypotension and bradycardia - conditions which lower the blood pressure and slow the heart-beat to abnormal levels. Hypothetically, this would cause Sherlock's body to exhibit a death-like state when the paramedics arrived at the scene. All that would remain then would be for Molly to falsify the post-mortem.)

Admittedly, it all becomes horribly convoluted when trying to explain this great deception... But when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth! Personally, my money's on the rhododendron hypothesis... I could be entirely wrong (first time for everything, I suppose!), but we’re just going to have to wait until series three to find out. Bugger.

Ultimately, The Reichenbach Fall was nothing short of phenomenal, and was surely a worthy conclusion to what has been a spectacular second series. Series three can’t come soon enough!

If you missed the outstanding conclusion to Sherlock, The Reichenbach Fall is available on iPlayer here.

Cameron Calls For More Mainstream Focus From UK Film Industry

This article can also be found on Step2TV.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the British film industry, calling for a tighter focus on producing films with more mainstream appeal.

During a visit to Pinewood Studios on Wednesday, Cameron suggested that he intends to re-balance the industry’s national lottery funding in favour of independent films with greater mainstream potential. Already successful film companies will receive greater support from the government, whilst unknown and unproven film-makers will be given less funding and support for their projects. In a statement on the Number 10 website, Cameron said; “Our role, and that of the BFI, should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures that rival the quality and impact of the best international productions. Just as the British Film Commission has played a crucial role in attracting the biggest and best international studios to produce their films here, so we must incentivise UK producers to chase new markets both here and overseas.”

Whilst this is an understandable and relatively sensible move from an economic standpoint, I can't help but feel that this may have a negative impact on the cultural value of British cinema. The scheme looks set to make it harder for up and coming film makers to break into an already difficult industry, and potentially sideline promising independent projects in favour of more commercially viable ventures. And inevitably, it's hard to gauge what is going to be commercially successful ahead of time, so it begs to question how they’re actually going to qualify films with mainstream potential.

I often find myself critical of mainstream movies, as they frequently pump out another action film packed with CGI, explosions and guns, often at the expense of good narrative, or another puerile comedy which makes me laugh less than a funeral. But amidst this quagmire of cinematic drudgery, there stand exemplars of the film industry; the films that inspired me to act, to write, and generally coaxed me into the world of media as a whole. It’s these films that capture the hearts and minds of their viewing audience, and sometimes are the ones that really go on to achieve surprising success in mainstream cinema.

The King's Speech, for example, turned out to be one of 2011's best dramas, picking up countless awards. It's a film about one of our former monarchs as he struggles to overcome his speech impediment. That’s it. On paper, it sounds unremittingly dull, but in reality it’s a brilliant drama and a huge success, grossing upwards of £250 million. If someone had sent me a synopsis of the plot several years ago and told me it was going to be a huge blockbuster, I wouldn’t have believed them... Maybe if Bertie had used his voice as a sonic weapon to defeat an empire, a la Dune, then maybe it would have sounded more fitting for the Hollywood market! Don’t get me wrong, though, The King’s Speech is more than deserving of it’s great success and adulation, but it still strikes me as an unlikely hit for the commercial market. Could the production of films like this be overlooked after the re-balance?

Another unexpected success is The Artist. Who could have anticipated that a black and white silent film could garner any form of attention in the modern 3D, surround sound obsessions of contemporary cinema?! Although this is a French film and not quite pertinent to the UK Film Council, it is again a prime example of how something unexpected and brilliant can grab the attention of the modern industry.

However, the government’s film policy review isn't necessarily the death knell for the culturally rewarding film market. Although more attention will be given to those that the UK Film Council deem to have a greater potential for success, the indie market and the up and coming cinematographers will still receive a relative degree of support, just not as much as before.

Maybe this re-balance will prove to be a success, helping produce more British films to rival Hollywood's finest, but there's an equal chance that this will mean films with more originality and artistic merit will be sidelined in favour of something which sounds more likely to sell. But is it really possible to gauge what films will sell or not, and is commercialisation really the way to go when it comes to film making? As Ken Loach argued in his rebuttal to Cameron’s proposition, film makers measure themselves based on creativity and originality, not as entrepreneurs.

Hopefully this re-balance won’t have an adverse effect on the quality of British films, and will serve to bolster the industry, continuing to produce more original and engaging pieces of cinema. Maybe after the success of Margaret Thatcher’s biopic, The Iron Lady, this means my screenplay of Cameron’s career - He’s Just Not That Into EU - stands a chance of getting produced!

But whilst Cameron’s proposing the film industry should focus on producing more successful films, perhaps he also needs to address bankers to make wiser investments and call for a more mainstream government that focuses on producing successful policies! But we all know how likely that is...

Sherlock - The Hounds of Baskerville

This review can also be found on Step2TV.

With rumours of a monstrous hound roaming the moors and the sinister secrets of a nearby military compound, Sherlock and John travel to Dartmoor to discover the truth behind the death of a client's father... In this contemporary re-imagining of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Mark Gatiss takes on a new and inventive approach to possibly the most famous of Sherlock Holmes stories.

Once more finding himself caught in the clutches of a chronic spell of boredom, Sherlock's craving another proper case to get his teeth into – the case of a little girl's missing rabbit is nothing to the mind of Sherlock Holmes! Obviously, when Henry Knight (Russel Tovey), a man on the cusp of a nervous break-down, comes to him with a tall tale about a big dog killing his father twenty years ago, Sherlock is initially dismissive. However, the apparent recurrence of this “gigantic hound” at Dewer's Hollow in Dartmoor, and the conspiracy theories surrounding the nearby Baskerville chemical and biological weapons research facility, proves too tempting for Sherlock to resist.

Infiltrating the Baskerville military compound with the illegitimate use of Mycroft's ID, investigating the eerie and chilling site of Dewer's Hollow, and exploring Henry's distraught mind, Sherlock and John begin to put the pieces of this mystery together and unearth something more sinister than they had first imagined... But is a monster really stalking the moors?

As the second episode of this series, which is bringing three of the most iconic Sherlock Holmes stories to the modern day, The Hounds of Baskerville provided a fresh new take on this famous narrative. Numerous elements from the original were kept, but almost invariably were designed to mislead – the inclusion of Stapleton, the original antagonist, being a prime example. With plenty of red herrings abound, The Hounds of Baskerville kept you in the dark until the last (although clues where there from the get-go - “God knows what they’ve been spraying on us all these years!”), and with numerous scenes of tension and anxiety, this certainly made for one thrilling, edge-of-the-seat piece of psychological horror.

Masterfully scripted by Mark Gatiss, an aficionado of the horror genre, The Hounds of Baskerville captured the essence of the horror story at the core of Doyle's original, and adapted it for contemporary times. Rather than using the traditional setting of an old family manor haunted by a demon dog, Gatiss made Baskerville Hall into a clandestine military compound – converting the ghost story of The Hound into a conspiracy theory. The changes to the story were truly inspired, making it feel as new and original as it did familiar, and certainly offered something different and engaging for someone already familiar with the tale, including the brilliant twist of the truth behind the hound...

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman's performances were consistently strong as ever, but had something additional to dig their teeth into – deep, debilitating fear. Having glimpsed the hound for the first time, Sherlock is inexplicably shaken and experiencing terror like nothing he's felt before. For the famous detective to abandon all sense of rationale in the face of fear was terrifying enough for Sherlock! A trembling, fearful and ranting Cumberbatch introduced another shred of humanity to Sherlock in this scene, as the distraught detective is gripped by a sense that defies all logic. Freeman also provided a stellar performance, with an exceptionally tense sequence in the bowels of Baskerville as John is sealed in a section of the facility, being stalked by the hound. And lastly, but certainly not least, Russel Tovey spectacularly portrayed the traumatised Henry on his descent into a drug-induced mania, capturing the idiosyncrasies of an agitated and troubled man from the start. Once again the entire cast provided a phenomenal performance which, along with the fantastic writing, cinematography and soundtrack, continues to make Sherlock one of the – if not the – best things on telly.

All that really remains for me to say is, as in Sherlock's closing words to Henry, “this case. Thank you. It's been brilliant.”

Sherlock concludes next week with an adaptation of The Final Problem, The Reichenbach Fall. If you missed The Hounds of Baskerville, it can be found on iPlayer here.

Benedict Cumberbatch Joins the Cast of Star Trek

This article can also be found on Step2TV.

Benedict Cumberbatch, star of BBC One's popular series Sherlock, has been confirmed to join the cast of JJ Abram's sequel to his 2009 re-boot of Star Trek.

Having risen to stardom in the role of Sherlock Holmes in 2010, Cumberbatch has well and truly got his foot in the door of Hollywood success and has caught the eyes of the likes of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Cumberbatch is due to feature in Jackson's current project The Hobbit (starring Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman), voicing the roles of Smaug the dragon and the Necromancer in the upcoming two-part cinematic adaptation of Tolkien's prequel to the Lord of the Rings. He is also currently appearing as an MI6 Operative in Tomas Alfredson's recent adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and as Major Stewart in Spielberg's War Horse, which has been tipped for success at this year's Oscars.

Although several reports suggest that Cumberbatch will be taking on the role of the villain in the upcoming Star Trek sequel, nothing has been confirmed as of yet. It has been reported that Cumberbatch will be taking on the role which had initially been cast by Benicio Del Toro. After talks with Del Toro broke down, the team began to consider other actors (such as Edgar Ramirez), but ultimately Cumberbatch “blew them all away” with his audition.

Also joining the cast will be Noel Clarke, set to play the role of a family man, and Alice Eve. Whatever Benedict Cumberbatch's role may be, this film certainly promises to be rather spectacular! 2013 can't come quick enough.

Filming for Star Trek II is due to start in a few weeks, and will be screening some time next year.

Sherlock - A Scandal In Belgravia

This review can also be found on Step2TV.

Guns, nudity, a dominatrix and government conspiracies... My New Year's party was fantastic! Incidentally, this was also the basis for A Scandal in Belgravia, the première episode for season two of Sherlock, as the eponymous detective came face to face with his intellectual equal, the one woman with a mind to rival his... Irene Adler.

Picking up immediately where series one left off 17 months ago (I've been counting...), the delightfully unhinged master criminal Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) has Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John Watson (Martin Freeman) in his snipers' cross-hairs. A bomb jacket rests threateningly by the side of the swimming pool, and Sherlock's gun is pointed squarely at the explosives... It's clear that whatever transpires here, no-one's getting out alive.

However, Moriarty gets a phone call and, with other things to take care of, he defuses the situation with a sense of sinister whimsy, calling off the snipers and walking away, informing his caller that if they don't provide he'll “make them into shoes.” Lovely fellow. I must admit, I like the route they've taken with Moriarty – avoiding the clichéd, posh villain and instead opting to portray him as a far more unsettling and psychotic character; something Andrew Scott performs brilliantly!

It's then back to boring old reality for Sherlock, as he's met with a slew of tedious cases from the public, brought about by the popularity of John's incessant blogging, with quite a few references to some other of Conan Doyle's classic Sherlock Holmes stories. However, the main focus of this episode is the re-imagining of A Scandal in Bohemia, Doyle's first Holmes story published in the Strand Magazine in 1891, adapted by Steven Moffat for the 21^st Century as A Scandal in Belgravia. In Arthur Conan Doyle's original story, European royalty are blackmailed with some particularly compromising photographs of Irene Adler with the Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein. In this re-imagined version, Irene Adler (played magnificently by Lara Pulver) is a dominatrix hired by an undisclosed member of the British monarchy, and the damning photos are now kept on a smartphone – along with many other important facts and images obtained from her clients, which Irene uses for “protection.”

It's not long until John and Sherlock are whisked off to Buckingham Palace (with Holmes woefully under-dressed!) and briefed on the situation at hand. However, despite Sherlock's initial confidence that this will be a simple case, he soon finds that Irene is far more than an attractive woman with a horse-whip, and they end up embroiled in a battle of wits. Continuously out-doing each other in intellectual brilliance, their curious relationship based on mental prowess and personal rivalry builds to the extent that they develop a great deal of respect for one another – probably the closest thing to love Sherlock can ever experience. It's quite a touching story, in a way! But with the CIA, the British government and international terrorists taking an interest, there's a conspiracy running far deeper than a spot of S&M with a royal...

Cumberbatch and Freeman continue with their marvellous double act, with the constant disdain and condescension of the somewhat inhuman Sherlock matched by the berating but grounding and humanising force of Watson, all the while keeping an underlying sense of camaraderie – the perfect Holmes and Watson dynamic! Freeman portrays a very natural John Watson, whose now grown accustomed to Sherlock's “quirks” and is getting into the flow of blogging, whilst Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes maintains a certain imperious, ethereal air about him that is a sheer joy to watch. In just four episodes, I think it's safe to say that both Cumberbatch and Freeman have secured their places among the classic interpretations of this deducing duo.

Of course, in this episode, it was Irene Adler that presented Sherlock with a challenge on several fronts – someone as cold and calculating as himself. His mirror image. In the role of Adler, Lara Pulver's superb performance portrayed an intricate and multi-dimensional character from the start, making the manipulative dominatrix seem both fundamentally vulnerable and yet dauntingly untouchable at the same time. As the one woman who could capture the interest of, and ultimately out-match, Sherlock Holmes, Pulver's appearance is certainly one which won't be forgotten. Although, as Adler is in lieu with Moriarty (and still alive and well), is it beyond the realms of possibility to hope that she may make a return, even though it doesn't quite fit the canon of Arthur Conan Doyle's original work?

Packed with action, humour, drama, and an all-round stellar cast, A Scandal in Belgravia is a prime example of why Sherlock won the BAFTA for Best Drama Series last year! Although the plot deviated from the original story towards the latter half (as is to be expected in a re-imagining), and there was a rather surreal conclusion of “Death by Boomerang” for the somewhat negligible case on the side, the episode certainly didn't fail to entertain and enthral.

I am pondering the significance of John's blog counter being stuck at 1895, though... All I know is that in the year 1895, H. G. Wells' The Time Machine was published, and Heinz first introduced HP Sauce. Unless the underlying plot of this series is about time travelling condiments, I'm lost for clues!*

Next week, Sherlock's attention turns to Dartmoor as he takes on possibly his most famous case – The Hound of the Baskervilles. Adapted by Mark Gatiss, The Hound promises to be a tale of horror and intrigue with a dark conspiracy at it's heart...

If you missed A Scandal in Belgravia, what's wrong with you?! You can catch up with it on iPlayer here... You won't be disappointed!

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*["It is always 1895" is the ending of a classic Holmesian poem by Vincent Starrett. Thanks to Joe Revill for sharing that fact! Shame that means no time travelling condiments, though...]