James Hibbs

The twists and turns are frequent, yet impressively the narrative is always relatively easy to follow and grab a hold of. .... The pacing often drags and beats repeat themselves.

The dialogue feels realistic and genuine, managing to be populated with legitimate medical terms while still being comprehensible to a general audience. The best part is that all this work to ground the series doesn't get in the way of the thrills - it is a nerve-racking ride from the very start.

The first episode is stellar and propulsive, but the second and third do start to stall somewhat. More elements are consistently thrown into the mix, but the twists and reveals often don't feel quite as consequential or cohesive this time around.

All that being said - the messiness, the weak characterisation, the lack of fidelity to the source material - it has to acknowledged that Young Sherlock is not a slog to get through. .... Young Sherlock is a proper rollicking adventure, with a sense of fun that prevails even as more brooding elements descend.

A compelling piece of television in its own right.

It's a passable few hours of entertainment, with a gloss and level of performance above the norm, but it's not a mystery on the level of even the middling Christie adaptations - making the ticking clock metaphor surprisingly apt.

For the most part this an exceptionally assured first outing for a series which has the potential to run and run, should the stories remain this engaging and structured with this much innovation.

They may not be revolutionary, and may give you some déjà vu to past Williams joints, but if you're looking for entertaining action, some fun twists and a compelling central character/relationship study, then you will certainly find all of that here.

y the time it wraps up, viewers including myself are likely to find themselves feeling slightly underwhelmed, given the fantastic build-up. This is not to say that The Guest isn't worth a watch. It is, even if only for Creevy and Myles's terrific performances. It just feels like it bit off a few more mysteries than it could perhaps chew.

He [Steven Knight] treads the line perfectly between being too serious and a little dour, and being so flippant as to ruin any buy-in the viewers have for the characters and their struggles. It makes the show utterly engrossing and, above all, really good fun.