Hero Fiennes Tiffin Becomes ‘Young Sherlock’

Hero Fiennes Tiffin can’t choose what was more enticing for him about Prime Video’s new series Young Sherlock: playing Sherlock Holmes, a character he always loved, or getting to work again with Guy Ritchie, who developed the show and directed Fiennes Tiffin in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

“Between the two of them, there’s not much more room for persuasion,” he says. “You’re already in.”

But the challenge Fiennes Tiffin, 28, faced withYoung Sherlock was going into the past to find the teenager before the man.

“Origin stories are always fun, because you get to watch the development of a character who you’ve already fallen in love with,” he says of Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation. “In the usual telling of Sherlock Holmes, once he’s the Sherlock Holmes and the detective, he’s kind of lost his moral compass, and he’s a little bit cold and emotionally distant. So we thought with this one, let’s show him with a bit more youthful positivity and enthusiasm.”

Based on the Young Sherlock Holmes book series by Andrew Lane, developed by Ritchie (who also directed the series’ first two episodes) and Peter Harness and created for television by Matthew Parkhill, Young Sherlock opens with its titular detective at 19, recently released from prison after being arrested for pickpocketing. Throughout the series’ eight episodes, Sherlock attempts to solve his first murder case while also unraveling a conspiracy involving his father, Silas (played by Joseph Fiennes, Fiennes Tiffin’s uncle).

Playing opposite “Uncle Joe” was a treat, Fiennes Tiffin says. “I’ve definitely always wanted to work with anyone in my family who’s in the industry.” Another uncle is Oscar-nominated star Ralph Fiennes, while Fiennes Tiffin’s mother, Martha Fiennes, is a filmmaker.

Fiennes Tiffin says his shared familial history with Joseph helped set their sequences apart — and that Joseph’s prowess as an actor helped the young star overcome any feelings of imposter syndrome. 

“He’s not just a sensational British actor, but a lovely person and really supportive,” Fiennes Tiffin says. “I loved working with him and was really proud of our scenes together.”

The other key relationship Sherlock forms in season one of Young Sherlock is with a new friend — James Moriarty (Dónal Finn). 

“I have always been excited as a fan of Sherlock to get to the point where they’re no longer friends,” Fiennes Tiffin says of the detective’s infamous adversary. “But our showrunner — and he’s right when he says it — he’s reminded me a few times about how important it is to milk that cow for as long as possible and keep them friends, because that’s kind of one of the main pillars of our show.”

Fiennes Tiffin’s first experience seeing the character Sherlock Holmes onscreen was — perhaps fittingly — Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal in Ritchie’s 2009 blockbuster. But he says it was the Benedict Cumberbatch version of Holmes on the acclaimed BBC series Sherlock that made him fall in love with the persnickety investigator.

“I’ve probably seen it three times,” he says of Cumberbatch’s take. “But by the time I got the role, I was like, ‘I don’t actually want to watch it again. I’ve seen it enough times, and I don’t want to be overly influenced.’”

Young Sherlock is streaming on Prime Video.

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