Opening on 26 December in the UK, Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) and Jude Law (Cold Mountain), is the eagerly anticipated new big screen adaptation of Scottish literate Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous character.

Directed by Guy Ritchie and shot in London and Brooklyn, the film, which has been defined as an ‘action-adventure mystery’, sees the detective and his loyal aide Watson battling against Lord Blackwood, the dark master behind a deadly plot that threatens to destroy the country.

Ritchie’s Boys

You know my methods, Watson. ‘The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes’, Arthur Conan Doyle (1893)

With credits including gangster flicks RocknRolla and Snatch, a high-profile marriage to an international pop star and his own pub in Mayfair, Guy Ritchie has carved himself a reputation as London’s enfant terrible. No prizes then for guessing Ritchie’s latest work ramps up the pace in a two hour-long adrenaline-fueled, fast-paced vehicle packed with sweat, fist fights and early 20th Century dens. Lead character Holmes – played by the charming and chiselled Downey Jr. – is as physical as he is astute, whereas Watson is a womaniser and a gambler – far from the nerdy doctor portrayed in previous adaptations. The result is a fresh look into the character, closer – Ritchie suggests – to the spirit of Conan Doyle’s stories, than that found in previous film and TV versions.

Although Ritchie was initially after someone younger to play the detective, the director took a chance on Downey Jr., who had to adopt a British accent for the role and lose weight to achieve the toned look that the director had in mind. In the hands of Ritchie and his leading man, the detective is a more modern, bohemian-looking and eccentric type – not all that dissimilar to the real Hollywood actor in the words of Downey Jr’s own wife.

However, Holmes's talent would not shine so brightly without a strong counterpart. Apart from following a script compiled from a combination of different Conan Doyle's stories, Ritchie paid special attention to creating the all important on-screen chemistry between the two main characters. According to reports by the press, the director, Downey Jr. and Law formed a close friendship during the making of the film and were regularly seen unwinding after a day’s shooting at The Punch Bowl, the pub owned by  Ritchie.

A Capital Shoot

I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. ‘A Study in Scarlet’, Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)

Shot extensively on location in the capital for five months, the film features a myriad of iconic London locations. 

Central London locations including The Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Bedford Square, Freemasons’ Hall, Pall Mall, Smithfields, the City and numerous locations around The Thames all bore witness to the story as it unravelled.

Outer London boroughs also played host to Holmes and Watson, including Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College doubling as The Grand Hotel’s exterior and Brompton Cemetery, in Fulham, used as the estate and burial plot of the evil Lord Blackwood.

Film London offered significant assistance during the Sherlock Holmes shoot in the capital. In the summer of 2008, during early stages of pre-production, the producers approached the agency. A dedicated Film London liaison was allocated to the project from the start, providing key assistance, guidance and support throughout the film’s planning and the shoot.

The close collaboration between the production and Film London was key to securing permission for the unit to film at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and the successful execution of an ambitious shoot involving a horse carriage driving across The Thames to Parliament, which required Westminster Bridge, Bridge Street and the east side of Parliament Square to be cleared for the scene.

"Film London were of great help to the film production team during the filming of Sherlock Holmes, right from pre-production through the extensive, five-month location shoot at key landmarks right across London." said Josh Berger, President and Managing Director of Warner Bros. Entertainment UK.

Aiming to become the start of a saga, with a sequel already in the planning, Sherlock Holmes hits the screens nationwide on 26 December.