Another entertaining outing for Benedict Cumberbatch as the modern incarnation of the great detective Sherlock Holmes taking on probably the most famous Conan-Doyle story of them all, "The Hound of The Bakervilles" in a tale of military skullduggery in genetics. That said, the tale did lack, for me, a little in suspense, with only a years-old death at its heart and an otherwise shortage of real drama or suspense.
The plot too seemed contrived and far-fetched and I'd go further and say that the special effects in conveying the terrifying beast were somewhat wanting too. There were the now obligatory jokey nods back to the source novels, in particular an amusing scene referring to the literary Holmes' cocaine addiction, with some good dialogue too, especially when Holmes has to apologise to Watson for saying he didn't have any friends.
Otherwise, the depiction of the great detective's computer-quick deduction skills was skilfully done, but on the whole this episode seemed a little underwritten with an over-emphasis on coincidence.
One neat casting touch for Robin Hood buffs was the appearance in the cast of the two most recent TV Little Johns Gordon Kennedy from the more recent Jonas Armstrong version and the older Clive Mantle from the 1980's "Robin of Sherwood".
The plot too seemed contrived and far-fetched and I'd go further and say that the special effects in conveying the terrifying beast were somewhat wanting too. There were the now obligatory jokey nods back to the source novels, in particular an amusing scene referring to the literary Holmes' cocaine addiction, with some good dialogue too, especially when Holmes has to apologise to Watson for saying he didn't have any friends.
Otherwise, the depiction of the great detective's computer-quick deduction skills was skilfully done, but on the whole this episode seemed a little underwritten with an over-emphasis on coincidence.
One neat casting touch for Robin Hood buffs was the appearance in the cast of the two most recent TV Little Johns Gordon Kennedy from the more recent Jonas Armstrong version and the older Clive Mantle from the 1980's "Robin of Sherwood".