REVIEW #23 The Irregulars (2021)

The Irregulars is a new TV series now on Netflix, which is a supernatural twist in the classic Sherlock Holmes world! The series follows a group of young people trying to fend for themselves in Victoria London when Dr Watson hires them to investigate the supernatural phenomenons happening around the city. 

CAST & THE ACTING (8/10)

The Irregulars doesn’t include any household names across its cast but a few faces you may recognise from British television. Royce Pierreson who plays Dr Watson is probably the most well known actor having had roles in Thor: The Dark World and The Witcher and Sherlock is played by Henry Lloyd Hughes who you may recognise from The Inbetweeners. However this series is more about the group of misfits hired by Dr Watson, which consist of Harrison Osterfield who plays Leo, Thaddea Graham playing Bea, Darcie Shaw playing Jessie, Jojo Macari as Billy and finally Mckell David playing spike! I think the acting was pretty good for a relatively less experienced cast. They showed real emotion in their characters, showing the struggles from the work house they were in and the scars that has left them, but also the struggles that come with being a prince too. You get a real sense of companionship and loyalty in this group so I think they done rather well.

PLOT & THE STORYLINE (7/10)

I did like the supernatural twist on the Sherlock Holmes world and I enjoyed the fact that Sherlock himself was rather a back seat character whilst others lead the series. As I have mentioned in my previous reviews I do like a supernatural based series and the idea of this group needing to close a rip between the world they live in and purgatory where the dead exist was an interesting take. I do feel like they could have told the story a little better, I think the villains they come across in the build up to the main climax of the series were pretty poor. So although I liked the idea I think it could have been better executed. However I did like how the relationships between all these characters unfolded and I think that dynamic between the characters was a key strength of this series.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS (7/10)

Being a series about the supernatural there are some special effects used and although they were good enough, they also weren’t great. An example being how the rip opens up over London, which I think did look pretty poor. But for the first season of a new trial show on Netflix I would kind of expect that and would imagine it would get better in future seasons. Cinematography was pretty good, the contrast between nightmare sequences and the real world were really distinct. When the worlds finally started to merge these distinctions began to fade and the cinematography was very similar, which I liked because it showed good visual representation of the story unfolding.

OVERALL (7.3/10)

I liked this series because it took a risk and used the Sherlock Holmes world but made him more of a secondary character and put this group of misfits at the forefront. I liked the supernatural take which reminded me of the Robert Downey Jnr Sherlock Holmes films, which were great. Although some of the villains I thought were pretty poor I think the standout thing from this series is the dynamic between ‘The Irregulars’, the companionship and loyalty really shined through. So credit has to be given to the actors there. There is room for improvement here which I’m sure Netflix will try and rectify if there more seasons in the future but I would still recommend watching it nonetheless. Especially if you’re a fan of supernatural series like I am. 

Thanks for reading!

Callan