MR. HOLMES (PG)

WHO’S IN IT?

Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings), Colin Starkey (Inspector Lewis), Laura Linney (Kinsey), Hattie Morahan (The Bank Job), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine), Patrick Kennedy (War Horse), Roger Allam (The Queen), Phil Davis (Vera Drake), Frances de la Tour (The History Boys), Milo Parker (Robot Overlords), Nicholas Rowe (Enigma), Sarah Crowden (Brideshead Revisited), John Sessions (Filth)

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters), director; Jeffrey Hatcher (The Duchess), writer; Iain Canning (The King’s Speech), Anne Carey (Adventureland) and Emile Sherman (Shame), producers; Carter Burwell (A Serious Man), composer; Tobias A. Schliessler (Hancock), cinematographer; Virginia Katz (Dreamgirls), editor

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Sherlock Holmes (McKellen), the famous detective of Baker Street, has retired at the grand old age of 93 and, in post-war 1947, moves to a remote farmhouse in Sussex with his housekeeper Mrs Munro (Linney) and her young son Roger (Parker). There, he spends his final days tending to his bees, writing in his journals, and thinking back to his time as a more youthful and more active sleuth, along with his partner in crime Dr John Watson (Starkey). However, one particular case that remains unsolved continues to haunt him, but because Holmes’ mind isn’t as brilliant as it once was it leaves him with only fragments of the clues. Nevertheless, he sets out to provide some closure to the case once and for all…

IN ONE SENTENCE, WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?

Mr. Holmes takes a very different and fascinating direction with the classic Arthur Conan Doyle character, portraying him as a severely aged man at the tether end of his life and seeing how his brain can function, if at all, around a normal case like the good old days – and, seeing how it’s Ian McKellen playing him, it’s no doubt going to be as awesome as you’d expect.

WHEN’S IT OUT?

FRIDAY 19TH JUNE 2015

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