Published Jun 16, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT
After joining Screen Rant in January 2025, Guy became a Senior Features Writer in March of the same year, and now specializes in features about classic TV shows. With several years' experience writing for and editing TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include a wide range of genres, from comedies, animated series, and crime dramas, to Westerns and political thrillers.
Now that Peaky Blinders has run its course through six seasons and a feature-length follow-up on Netflix, fans of flat-capped period gangster dramas need to look elsewhere to get their TV fix. Luckily, Guy Ritchie has arrived right on cue with his own historical crime thriller series, which puts a fresh spin on an iconic screen detective.
Ritchie’s Prime Video prequel show Young Sherlock has already drawn comparisons with Peaky Blinders due to the distinctive visual style and all-action pacing of its first season. Now, though, it’s about to get even more similar to Steven Knight’s flagship crime drama.
Ritchie and his executives have hired the director of arguably the best Peaky Blinders season to helm the production of this sophomore release. While he takes a step back from on-set work during season 2 of Young Sherlock, veteran Scottish television director Colm McCarthy is taking charge of shooting the show’s upcoming episodes.
Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock Is Returning With Colm McCarthy As Director
The second season of this mystery thriller series is expected to reach our screens in early 2027, likely around the same time of year that season 1 was released. Our first look at Young Sherlock season 2 has revealed Colm McCarthy as the director of ongoing filming sessions, alongside director of photography Mark Patten.
Creator and head writer Matthew Parkhill recently shared some photos from a location shoot for the show, which also feature Arabesque architecture set against a spectacular rocky backdrop. While this shoot took place in the Palermo province of Sicily, it’s unclear whether this location is also the setting of the story for season 2.
In any case, we should expect more sumptuous visuals shrouded in the murky gloom of a period mystery, but delivered at the breakneck pace of a modern-day crime thriller. Colm McCarthy is certainly the right person to direct a TV series in this vein.
Colm McCarthy Also Directed Peaky Blinders Season 2
McCarthy is the director responsible for the entirety of Peaky Blinders season 2, which remains one of the historical gangster drama’s crowning achievements. Although it’s unquestionably a darker work of television than Young Sherlock, the two series share many similarities. Therefore, McCarthy is perfectly placed to replicate his contribution to Peaky Blinders while directing Guy Ritchie’s new show.
Young Sherlock’s second season is set to mark another momentous turning point in the life of its titular protagonist. Just as the season 2 finale of Peaky Blinders changed Tommy Shelby, the way Sherlock’s relationship with James Moriarty is going to evolve in this upcoming installment of the Prime Video drama will transform his outlook on the world.
There’s no one better to carry this experience across to viewers at home than Colm McCarthy, who has also directed landmark episodes of Black Mirror, Doctor Who, and – most notably – the BBC series Sherlock. With him at the helm, there’s every chance season 2 of Young Sherlock can live up to the impressive standards set by season 1.
Young Sherlock Is The Closest New Series To Peaky Blinders On Streaming
Both aesthetically and in terms of its approach to storytelling, Young Sherlock is the closest ongoing TV show out there to Steven Knight’s Peaky Blinders. The parallels between the two series don’t end with their shared proclivity for flatcaps and stylish wool suits. Their main characters share a uniquely British swagger, too.
What’s more, both center on tragic protagonists responsibilized from an early age under traumatic circumstances, who are forced to reckon with the harmful role their fathers have played in the lives of their whole families. At the same time, these protagonists wilfully flirt with mortal danger as they demonstrate their antiheroic credentials in swashbuckling fashion.
Meanwhile, their stories are told at full throttle, with gorgeous period details juxtaposed with anachronistic cinematography and musical soundtracks. Young Sherlock and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man went head-to-head on streaming earlier in 2026, but now Guy Ritchie’s Prime Video series holds the upper hand.
It’s going to return to our screens early next year with no Shelbys around to rival it, taking its rightful place on the throne they have vacated. Young Sherlock is the best period British gangster drama on TV right now, and the ultimate successor to Peaky Blinders.
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Young Sherlock
9/10
Release Date March 4, 2026
Network Prime Video
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Hero Fiennes Tiffin
Sherlock Holmes
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Zine Tseng
Princess Gulun Shou’an
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Peaky Blinders
9/10
Release Date 2013 - 2022-00-00
Network BBC One, BBC Two
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Paul Anderson
Arthur Shelby
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English (US) ·