A Scandal in Belgravia

Once in a while a new TV series comes along that unites the viewing public in passionate admiration. Back in 2006 we had Life on Mars; in the 1990s we had Between the Lines and the BBC’s remarkable adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring a young Colin Firth.

In 2010, we had Sherlock, and it seems that in 2011 that admiration is going to continue as Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ reimagining of the classic tales of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle returns to television. The fact that the show even exists given the competition from a Hollywood movie franchise starring two of the industry’s biggest names is testament to the strength of concept, writing and acting in the BBC show.

Following the cliffhanger ending of “The Great Game” (in which Sherlock and Watson were cornered by Jim Moriarty in an abandoned swimming pool), the series continued on New Year’s Day with “A Scandal in Belgravia” which revealed exactly how the detectives found their way out of the seemingly impossible situation.

Enter Irene Adler, played here by the astonishing Lara Pulver whose curves were amazing. Her performance wasn’t bad either, dismissing the ghost of Isabella Gisborne in the BBC’s old Saturday night series Robin Hood. Seductive, aggressive and clearly having a private non-verbal conversation with Sherlock that you would have to be the great man himself to notice, she’s got the mystery of dominatrix The Woman down to a “t” and it is clear what each sees in the other.

The mystery of the episode centres around a set of photos said to exist that feature a female member of the Royal Family engaged in some naked activities with Ms Adler. The Woman herself has the photos in her possession on her mobile phone along with, it seems, secrets of considerable relevance to the CIA. Holmes is charged with retrieving the images, something that initially seems to bore him but is in fact a task that ties in with a remarkable number of other cases which his brother later observes are “at the fringe” of this particular case.

Throughout the episode we see time pass as investigations into curious murders in the middle of nowhere fade into the memory as Holmes encounters Adler in different ways and Watson is regularly contacted by Mycroft. Sadly Watson is clearly not having a good time with his love life, having moved on from his previous girlfriend in the first series he finds himself dumped when it is believed that Adler has been killed, simply for caring about his partner. Meanwhile Mrs Hudson (the wonderful Una Stubbs) is dragged into the action by some unruly CIA agents who find themselves on the wrong end of Sherlock’s genius.

As you can see, “A Scandal in Belgravia” is about the women in our heroes’ lives, from the obvious Irene Adler and John Watson’s girlfriend to the seemingly pointless love of Molly Hooper and of course Mrs Hudson’s matriarchal role. There is of course Watson’s previous military career and Holmes’ family connections to the Establishment and by definition their protection of the Royal Family member caught in such salacious scenes.

Once again the 90 minute time slot is perfect for the show, which sees Mark Gatiss’ Mycroft Holmes take a larger role than in any of the previous three episodes. Andrew Scott’s Jim Moriarty also appears more prominently, hardly surprising now that we know what he looks like.

All in all: Sherlock is back! There was something mightily confident about the production, with Paul McGuigan returning to the director’s chair once again. The casting remains top-notch, the sets and locations highlight the contemporary realism that has been introduced into the stories by bringing them up to date and amongst all of the twists and turns that the plot takes the only thing that remains slightly unlikely is the use of a fully charged mobile phone prior to a beheading…