Young Sherlock shows Guy Ritchie is best when plot beats swagger

What if Guy Ritchie's most satisfying television isn't the one with the gangsters? That's the claim a new MovieWeb piece makes, and it's more provocative than it sounds. The director who built a career on cockney crooks and chatty violence may have made his sturdiest series by pointing the camera at a teenage Sherlock Holmes.

The buzz is real, even if the praise isn't unanimous

The trigger is a piece in which MovieWeb argues that Young Sherlock, released on Prime Video in 2026, is better than Ritchie's Netflix series The Gentlemen. It's set in 1871 and follows a 19-year-old Holmes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) at Oxford, who becomes a prime suspect in a murder and has to clear his name. Dónal Finn plays a young James Moriarty as his unlikely partner. Eight episodes, showrunner Matthew Parkhill.

Other coverage is warm. WalesOnline reports the show has been called a "must watch" and "an absolute gem" with "zero boring episodes". Not everyone is sold, though: The Playlist's review says the mystery at its center is far less compelling than its cast, and Metro gave it three stars. Praise, then, but not a coronation.

The Gentlemen is fun, but it coasts on the Ritchie formula

Let's be fair to The Gentlemen. Even MovieWeb calls it a terrific crime series, and it singles out Theo James and Kaya Scodelario for praise. But the same piece makes the point that stings: it's another variation on themes Ritchie has been exploring since Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

We agree with that diagnosis. Ritchie's signature is a style that can run on autopilot: colorful characters, snappy talk, a scheme that goes sideways. When the scheme is the whole show, the swagger has to carry everything. It usually does, for a while. Then you notice you're watching a very well-tailored remix.

A murder gives the swagger somewhere to go

Young Sherlock has something the gangster comedies don't need and often lack: a question the audience wants answered. MovieWeb says the Oxford murder gives the eight episodes "a strong narrative backbone". Our read is that this is the whole trick. Ritchie's kinetic, quick-cut instincts, which Screen Rant describes as "fast-paced, thinly-sliced scenes", work better when they're serving an engine of clues and reversals rather than decorating a hangout.

There's also the built-in tension of an origin story. We know where Holmes and Moriarty end up, so every friendly exchange between them carries a shadow. That kind of dramatic irony is something a plot-first show can exploit and a vibes-first show can't.

Don't crown it too fast

Here's the caveat, and it matters. "Better than The Gentlemen" is one writer's verdict, and The Playlist's more skeptical review suggests the mystery itself isn't airtight. If the case is the weakest part, our thesis gets a little awkward: maybe it's the cast chemistry and the fresh premise doing the heavy lifting, not the plotting. We suspect it's a mix of both, and that's still a point in favor of Ritchie working with a structure he doesn't have to invent from scratch.

It also isn't a knockout against The Gentlemen. MovieWeb itself says one show doesn't make the other obsolete. Different pleasures, different moods.

The verdict

If you've had your fill of Ritchie's criminal underworld, Young Sherlock is the one to try next: a fresh, fast, binge-friendly detective yarn with a pair of leads worth watching. If you're a Gentlemen loyalist, you won't be betrayed, but you might be surprised by how much more a director can do when a mystery keeps him honest. Our bet is that Ritchie's best television comes when he trusts the plot to run the show and lets the swagger ride along.