The last official Sherlock Holmes story (last to take place, not last to be written) was “His Last Bow”. It was set in 1914, after Holmes had retired to a life of beekeeping on the Sussex Downs. But it seems – I presume there’s been a recent combing of the archives – that the detective’s real last bow occurred 43 years later, when Holmes (McKellen), still breeding bees, gets the opportunity to finally close a case that has been haunting him since the 1890s.

He is now 93, his memory is failing him, and he no longer has Watson by his side. His only allies are a young boy, and his former self, who almost cracked the case many years ago – if only he can recall how.

The director, Bill Condon, earned critical respect with Gods and Monsters and Kinsey, but I think he does much better work – and is certainly more fun – in genre pieces like Dreamgirls and, okay, I’ll admit it, the last two Twilight movies (there, I said it, sue me).

In any case, this is the movie that brings his two sides together. Sherlock Holmes is still Sherlock Holmes, and it’s a pleasure to simply watch him be Sherlock Holmes – even as an old man, when he’s brooding on loss, frailty and a changing world that he, too, will soon have to depart.