From Guy Ritchie, who also directed the two films based on the detective, comes Young Sherlock. This installment, which takes place in Victorian England, follows a younger, disgraced Sherlock Holmes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), who after meeting none other than James Moriarty (Dónal Finn), ends up entangled in a murder investigation that threatens his freedom.

While inspired by the Andrew Lane novel series of the same name, the Prime Video series is not a direct adaptation, according to showrunner Matthew Parkhill. “I was like, ‘Look, I kind of want to start in a different place,’ because Andy’s Sherlock is a sort of 14-year-old schoolboy,” he explained to SciFi Vision. “…[t]he things I was interested in exploring needed to start with him older and in a different place.”

The showrunner admitted that he worried about creating a series based around the Arthur Conan Doyle character given how popular it is. “I had to find a way to sort of give myself permission or a creative liberty.” He went on to say that they did not touch anything after Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet. “I want to honor the books, because I love the books, but because we're dealing with Sherlock in a different phase of his life, we had to come up with something that was different that will lead into the books but isn't the books,” said Parkhill. “That, that for me gave me a sense of freedom that allowed me to breathe and to have some fun and to play in rather than being governed too much by the terror.”

During the interview, Parkhill also spoke about talking to Ritchie about the look of the series and tonally how it’s slightly different from the movies.

For the full interview, watch the video and read the transcript below. Young Sherlock is now streaming on Prime Video.



SCIFI VISION:   So, to start off, talk about sort of balancing what you pull from the book series versus what you add creatively and how you make those decisions.

MATTHEW PARKHILL:   So, on this one, what happened was when I got involved, I read the Andy Lane books, which I loved, and I gave them to my 14-year-old daughter at the time and got her to read them. And I loved them.

But when I talked to sort of the team behind this, I was like, “Look, I kind of want to start in a different place,” because Andy’s Sherlock is a sort of 14-year-old schoolboy. I was very conscious of the Barry Levinson movie in the 80s, which I love, [in] which he was a schoolboy.

And I was sort of, the things I was interested in exploring needed to start with him older and in a different place. So, I basically said to them, “Look, if I do this, I think I need to start here, and these are the things I want to explore.” So, that was sort of the first conversation really.

And then, so I didn't actually end up using the books when I wrote or developed the show. And I remember talking to Andy about this, and he actually came to the premiere on Tuesday night, and he knew that I wasn't using the books, but I was still a bit nervous about him seeing it, but he was very happy. So, that was a weight off my shoulders.

SCIFI VISION:   That's always the good, the good thing when they're happy. So, even though then this isn't based on that or based on like a specific - I'm assuming not, as I haven't read the books, but based on a specific Doyle story either. He's younger here. Did you worry at all about fans though? Because, I mean, obviously Sherlock is a big name, and I'm just curious, if you worried about what people would think.

MATTHEW PARKHILL:   I mean, did I worry? Yes. A hundred percent. I was like, I mean, I think I'd say shit scared is probably a better description than worry.

And because it's a huge thing, right? And so many amazing writers have taken it on so many amazing actors have taken it on. So, for me, I had to find a way to - everyone's different, but I had to find a way to sort of give myself permission or a creative liberty.

So, what I sort of said to myself was like, “I'm not going to - this isn't a show that's going to take stories from the canon, like the way that the Benedict Cumberbatch show took stories from the Conan Doyle stories.” I was like, “Look, we will not touch anything after A Study in Scarlet,” which is the first Conan Doyle. And that therefore gives me a license, a creative freedom.

I want to be - I want to honor the books, because I love the books, but because we're dealing with Sherlock in a different phase of his life, we had to come up with something that was different that will lead into the books but isn't the books. That, that for me gave me a sense of freedom that allowed me to breathe and to have some fun and to play in rather than being governed too much by the terror.

SCIFI VISION:   I did notice though, you added a couple of quotes that I know, I mean, I've seen [versions of it], I appreciated that.

MATTHEW PARKHILL:   We did that a lot. Like we did that, like things that come in the books later on. You know, I loved the idea that, his most famous dictum is actually Moriarty said that to him, [unintelligible] survival. The first time Sherlock ever sees the Sherlock Holmes character is on Detective Fitget. And so I wanted to play with that and put in these little Easter eggs that the audience would be like, “Oh, that's why this happens,” and have fun with that.

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah. I love that. Was there anything, I guess, sort of, I want to say stylistically, I guess, though, that you thought about, I guess, as you were creating this, so it didn't resemble other shows and movies that people have seen either, whether it's costumes or just the way it was shot. I'm just curious how you thought about that.

MATTHEW PARKHILL:   When I first started to talk to Guy, we were very conscious that this - he's done these incredible Sherlock movies, which I was a huge fan of, am a huge fan of. And we were like, “Look, this is not, Hero doesn't grow up to be Robert Downey Jr. You know what I mean? He's not that Sherlock. But the energy of those movies, which everyone loves, we knew that we wanted to make something that if you love those movies and the energy of those movies, you'd love the energy of this.

So, tonally that I would say this is a very close cousin, but also Guy is not the same man or director he was in those. So, the things he's interested in have changed.

So, I think it's interesting you talk about costume, for example. So, we had this beautiful costume designer, Jeanine, to me, who the first meeting I ever had with her, she showed me these costumes from the 1880s, actually, and these costumes from the Paris catwalk. And she said to me, “Matthew, look, the lines are the same, right?”

And Guy, when we had our first costume meeting with Guy, he was very, he wanted to make sure that the costumes felt like something we could wear today and people would want to wear today. So, it's honoring the fabric, or sometimes, but doing it in a way that feels - we don't want to reinvent it. It's a balance, right?

It's the same with the music, the balance, you want to feel that there are elements of it that are - we use some great folk tracks, for example…that are done in a way that feels contemporary.