Seventeen years after his Oscar®-winning Of Gods and Monsters Bill Condon is reunited with that film's star, Sir Ian McKellen, in another warm film that once again focuses on ageing and redemption. It is an affectionate tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective (McKellen), who is now very old indeed - 93 - and long since given up on the sleuthing business. Watson is long dead, and Holmes lives in a quaint Dorset house where he tends to his beloved bees, and is in turn tended to by widowed housekeeper Mrs Munro (Laura Linney) and her hero-worshipping young son Roger (Milo Parker).

As he's starting to lose those legendary marbles, Holmes is determined to crack an old case - involving a couple who have lost their way after two miscarriages, a glass harmonica, and a curious German music teacher - before it's too late. This is a film about picking up old clues and turning them over, a refreshing alternative to today's hyperactive versions of Holmes on screen. And yes, it contains enough references to Conan Doyle's original stories to keep even the most ardent of fans happy (there is even a scene where our Holmes goes to the cinema to see a Sherlock film, and he eye-rollingly dismisses the liberties taken on screen) - enjoy.

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