The great sleuth’s savvy teenage sister, new to
Netflix, would give everyone from Basil Rathbone to Ian McKellen a run for his money
What is it about Sherlock Holmes that holds such enduring fascination for people? After nearly 140 years, you might think a tweedily eccentric, pipe-smoking Victorian detective might have worn out his pop-culture welcome. Yet the updates, sendups and spinoffs of Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal character keep coming – some delightful, some dire, but never enough to deter the next one. If Will Ferrell and John C Reilly’s clomping, witless, financially disastrous parody Holmes & Watson (it’s on Now TV, but why do that to yourself) couldn’t kill the mythos two years ago, it’s safe to say it’s going nowhere.
That’s just as well, since its latest iteration is considerably more fun. On paper, Netflix’s new film Enola Holmes sounds like it could go wrong in several directions; as an adaption of Nancy Springer’s YA literary franchise centred on the detective’s sparky kid sister, the risk of naff, condescending girl-power-by-numbers is high. Yet thanks to Fleabag director Harry Bradbeer’s zippy steering and the smart but not overly cute presence of Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown in the lead, it’s brisk, bright family viewing that parents and kids can watch equally happily.