Later this week, Netflix will debut its latest must-watch series, supernatural-thriller The Irregulars, set in the world of the greatest detective of all time, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
In order to get all you Sherlock Supa-Fans prepared for this Friday’s release, why don’t we present you to Netflix’s newest Baker Street Irregulars and give you just a little taste of all the spooky treats yet to come?
Meet Bea (played by Thaddea Graham)
The undisputed heart of the show, and leader of the group of troubled street youths who get drawn into the questionable schemes of 221B’s Dr. John Watson, 17-year-old Bea is brought to the screen by Thaddea Graham, who appeared in last year’s Netflix series The Letter for the King.
When asked what audiences should expect from the show, Graham warns us that as she and her friends “get drawn deeper into Watson’s world, things begin to get weirder and more dangerous,” eventually leading her to “discover why Watson has targeted her and her sister” and unveiling the truth behind the supernatural occurrences shaking Victorian London.
Meet Dr. John Watson (played by Royce Pierreson)
“He’s previously been described as sinister,” actor Royce Pierreson says of his version of the iconic Dr. John Watson, “but I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. He’s.. world-weary.”
Audiences will instantly recognise Pierreson as the Mage Istredd from Netflix’s The Witcher, where he starred alongside the streaming service’s other Sherlock Holmes, Henry Cavill. The version of the character he presents, however, “is very different to what we’ve seen before.”
Going into production Pierreson had a very precise idea of what he’d like to do with his version of the character, even having conversations with the make-up department about ensuring “his visible tiredness… circles under the eyes”.
Pierreson’s Watson is certainly no blind follower, but a man who had plainly seen far too much in his years alongside Sherlock Holmes.
Meet Jessie (played by Darci Shaw)
Bea’s 15-year-old sister, Jessie, does not outwardly possess the same iron-will and fearlessness as her sister, but she is certainly not without her own strengths, including her emerging psychic gifts. Portrayed by Darci Shaw, who made her 2019 film debut as the young Judy Garland in Rupert Goold’s Judy, Shaw says she leant heavily “into the notion of feeling alone and isolated” that we all seem to experience at some point growing up in bringing her fragile character to the screen.
Unfortunately, however, she had to laughingly admit that “I don’t have psychic powers” and could not supply us with the weekend’s lotto numbers even when we asked her super nicely.
Meet Billy (played by Jojo Macari)
Audiences may recognise actor Jojo Macari from seasons 1 and 2 of Netflix’s Sex Education, but in real life, he is about as far from the intimidating tough guy, Billy, as you can possibly get. Full of laughter and lighthearted recollections about the times the main cast had grown increasingly close whilst filming in Liverpool, he owes his character’s hard and daunting presence “purely to genetics… what is known is [his] family as the Macari stare”, a trademark look he inherited from his father and grandfather, who had both landed themselves in some trouble over the years due to its intimidating nature.
Now, after being captured on screen, the “Macari stare” will most certainly now go on to forevermore be “known as the ‘Billy scowl’”.
Meet Spike (played by McKell David)
After appearing in Guy Ritchie’s latest cinematic outing, The Gentlemen, actor McKell David knows his way around streetwise characters, and in The Irregulars, his charming and smooth-talking character Spike is the glue that holds his odd group of friends together. As an actor though, he is all too conscious of the enormous weight of the Sherlock Holmes legacy which he and his fellow co-stars now find themselves part of.
When we put both David and Macari under pressure and asked them to name their favourite on-screen Sherlocks (and very cheekily forced them to choose someone other than co-star Henry Lloyd-Hughes) the two had some very differing opinions on the matter. Whilst Macari is a self-proclaimed fan of Benedict Cumberbatch’s turn as the super-sleuth, David was more than adamant that Robert Downey Jr’s turn in the role was his own most memorable, though both agree that going forward “new audiences will start to think about Henry Lloyd-Hughes in the same way”.
Meet Leo (played by Harrison Osterfield)
17-year-old Prince Leopold, a younger son of Queen Victoria herself, has led a cloistered and protected life in Buckingham Palace due to his haemophilia, but much prefers to live as the more down-to-earth Leo in the bustling heart of London.
Played by Harrison Osterfield, who first made his debut in George Clooney’s 2019 mini-series Catch-22, Osterfield admits he really “enjoyed playing both sides of” his character, moving from “ballrooms and parties” to “wading through tunnels and sewer water”.
And, of course, meet Sherlock Holmes (played by Henry Lloyd-Hughes)
Joking that co-star Pierreson is “now contract-bound to only co-star with people named Henry”, the latest in a very long line of actors to bring Sherlock Holmes to the screen, Henry Lloyd-Hughes’ extensive television credits include Killing Eve and The English Game.
For Henry Lloyd-Hughes, the numerous imaginings of Sherlock Holmes’s character over the years have always been “a product of its own time… even from Basil Rathbone onwards”.
Lloyd-Hughes’ take on the character, he warns us, is something very different to what we’ve encountered previously, and he’s no longer the man “who was once capable of great and fantastic deeds”.
He’s thrilled, however, to make his own contribution to the legacy “of a great English character and story”.
Streaming on Netflix from this Friday, March 26, The Irregulars is a perfect way to spend a thrilling weekend exploring a supernatural version of Baker Street you have certainly never encountered before.
The game is afoot!