Young Sherlock; Europe on the Edge

“Guy Ritchie has made a new TV series about Sherlock Holmes and the long and the short of it is … hmm. But first, some questions. Does the eight-part mystery-drama include scenes in which flippant young men in flat caps shout “Oi” while hurtling through the air in slow motion? It does. Are there bare knuckle biff-ups during which bulbous cockneys cheer on other bulbous cockneys and Irish folk music diddles frantically in the background? There are. Might there also be bits where everything suddenly goes really fast for no reason, effortful banter between bruisers in tweed trousers, blundering rozzers and the sense that while female characters are welcome to contribute to the plot, they are very much excluded from being any sort of fun? Well, duh. Or rather, strike a light an’ cor blimey, guv’nor, you’ve got this Guy Ritchie geezer bang to rights.”
Sarah Dempster, The Guardian

“As Kasabian blasts over snazzy title credits, it’ll come as little surprise that this is from Guy Ritchie, who transfers much of the brio that barrelled along his Holmes movie blockbusters (the Robert Downey Jr ones), kicking things off with a one-on-one prison yard fight, as if stamping the show with a RitchieTM symbol. From thereon the series is a breathless, slightly wild and ultimately disposable romp that’s often fun but will no doubt alarm Conan Doyle purists.”
James Jackson, The Times

“Though a theme of political tensions ran through most of the segments, this was a disjointed collection of reports that veered from travelogue to economics and crime to eccentrics. In Germany, [Katya] Adler took a ride in a 150mph sports car around the former F1 circuit at the Nurburgring, to illustrate how this part of the world has a renowned motor industry. Once we’d had a chance to absorb that insight, she went on to explain: ‘Of course, they’re not all race cars.’ To prove it, she took us to the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, and stood inside a vast tower with a multi-storey lift for stacking cars. Global competition and the impact of U.S. tariffs have undermined Germany’s economy, Adler said, to the point where its roads are crumbling and its mobile phone coverage is unreliable. Exactly like the UK, then.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail