Don't get me wrong. Although I think Jeremy Brett was Sherlock Holmes, I was brought up on Basil Rathbone, who was always excellent. People say he was a little too dramatic in his acting but that's like saying Morgan Freeman's voice has too much gravitas ... this is case where too much of a good thing wasn't wrong.
Benedict (yes his name is even more strange) Cumberbatch is one of an extraordinary generation of English actors - sadly most of them posh because there may be many others who now can't afford to go to top drama schools which is the only way they could compete with them whereas it used to be if working class kids were good enough they made it but I digress - such as Ben Wishaw, Tom Hiddlestone and Eddie Redmayne following in the footsteps of Damian Lewis, Dominic West and Daniel Craig. But Cumberbatch's Holmes, from the Dr Who (how could I miss out David Tennant from my list of great actors but he's kind of between generations) writers, is one for modern times. The series has great style, possibly overly clever and a tad fantastical - you can't shoot people in the brain safely - but the acting is brilliant.