Good TV: Sherlock

This is the first in a series of pieces on television shows that have entertained, or are entertaining, quiet evenings in the Meikle household.

The great thing (well, one of the many great things) about the MySky era is that it encourages the viewer to be exposed to a much broader range of programmes than before.

I know I used to be fairly restrictive regarding which shows I watched. I knew my favourites, and I knew which nights they were on.

Delving into something new required a certain level of commitment. I had to make a conscious decision to, say, set aside an hour at Thursday 9.30pm to scope out a new drama everyone was talking about.

It was watch-it-then-with-ads-and-all stuff. Oh sure, we had the option of taping the programme on to video cassette. But they were so clunky, so awkward to fast forward. And you had to plan carefully when taping multiple shows, making sure you didn't run out of space and scrawling details on the cover.

MySky makes it incredibly simple to not only automatically record your favourite shows, but to take a punt on several others. If they turn out to be duds, you've wasted little time and they can be easily deleted.

I tend to press Record on all sorts of new dramas, documentaries and movies. Some I watch for five minutes before discarding; some get a bit longer; a select few join the regular rotation.

So it came to pass I took a (rare) chance on a Sunday night series on TV1 and was rewarded with the excellent Sherlock.

TheBBC update of the Arthur Conan Doyle detective classic screened in Britain in September but we're just getting it now. It's a three-parter, with the twist that Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are living in modern times. With, you know, cellphones and GPS and graffiti artists and everything.

The series features Martin Freeman as Dr Watson. You probably know Freeman best as Tim in The Office – the proper, British version of the mockumentary – but in a few months the world will see him as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.

Freeman's Watson is a military doctor, just back from war service. And he plays the role very well, with a nice understatedness.

But the star of the show is, rightfully, Sherlock Holmes, portrayed by the improbably named Benedict Cumberpatch. (Seriously, what a remarkable name. Could it be any more English?)

I know nothing at all about Cumberpatch, but it turns out he is a magnificent actor, with piercing eyes in a sort of androgynously alien face. He is superb as the brilliant but slightly sociopathic Holmes, who does his usual deduction to solve crimes.

Some are fans of shows like CSI heavy on forensics, but not me. I much prefer watching a character like Holmes at work. He had me from the moment he said “Afghanistan or Iraq?” the first time he met Watson and deduced he had just returned from war.

It's a shame Sherlock has only three parts, but with luck there will be more seasons to come. It's bloody good.