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There used to be a common criticism of sequels, that they were just retreads of the original. This generally isn’t the case anymore but there are always exceptions to the rule (of a rule that used to be the exception).

In fact I had considered just reposting my review of the first Enola Holmes (read it here) so as to make this very point and while I’ve decided not to do that I would only have needed to change two things; Sam Claflin is not in this one and now it is a woman that saves her from her mid point incarceration and not a man.

This might be a little surprising from returning director Harry Bradbear and writer Jack Thorne. Bradbeer called the shots on all but the first episode of Fleabag, the second series of which changed things up nicely, and Thorne has a hugely varied filmography having penned everything from the His Dark Materials adaptation to that brilliant TV movie Help, The Accident, The Aeronauts, Electric Dreams, This is England, Skins, Shameless and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Change is not what was called for here though. This is a film series for getting young people engaged with a whole array of areas they may not be otherwise looking at from whodunnits, to Victorian Britain, Conan Doyle, political reform and feminism. To an adult audience this all might seem a little obvious and cliched (seriously, it seems to me that crooks in the nineteenth century could have got away with anything had it not been for all that incriminating lint they left everywhere). This isn’t aimed at the over twenties though and for its target demographic it delivers exactly what is needed.

Having recently watched Millie Bobbie Brown frowning and straining through thirteen hours of Stranger Things Season 4, it is good to see her having fun in this role again and while Henry Cavill has walked away from making Netflix’s Witcher show it is nice that he seems committed to playing Sherlock for them here. Both he and Helena Bonham Carter have a little more to do than they did last time and this lead character whose name is ‘alone’ spelt backwards (to be fair they make nothing of this this time) has a solid supporting cast around her. They still manage the fourth wall breaks effectively and they continue to get some gentle humour out of placing their heroine out of her comfort zone. The guy who they refreshingly steered away from having as a love interest last time is totally the love interest now but Enola continues to be a delightfully spirited, resourceful, flawed and inspiring female character.

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The Ripley Factor:

Yes, yes, Sherlock’s little sister has the Ripley Factor in spades but actually the real win for the film in this respect lies with a different character.

It they’d followed another of Nancy Springer’s books this may not have shaken things up any. (The second one is called The Case of the Left-Handed Lady so I feel this website of any would have properly made something of that.) Bradbeer and Thorne have chosen not to do this though, deciding instead to write a story around a real event and little known historical figure.

Sarah Chapman was a worker in the Bryant & May match factory who lead a series of strike actions in protest of low wages, poor conditions, employer bullying and, as is leant on heavily in this film, risk to health and safety. The walk out of 1888 which is depicted here, finally changed things and was a landmark event for female rights that occurred right alongside the suffrage movement. It is really great that this mostly overlooked female figure is highlighted in this movie, even if there may be a small amount of artistic license around some aspects of her life.

Someone who isn’t included in the story is Annie Besant, an activist who publicised the plight of Chapman and others and made a huge contribution to their successes. Her actions are essential attributed to the fictional Enola here. Interestingly it is not the first time Jack Thorne has done something like this. He created a composite female character in his script for The Aeronauts who was shown doing what two other women actually did in real life, thereby robbing them of the attention they deserved. (Read more about this here.) I can see why he does this but actually I wouldn’t have minded him rather than me doing the detective work on this.