The Irregulars is the ultimate Netflix Algorithm show, a Victorian mixture of Sherlock Holmes, Stranger Things and Bridgerton

The Hollywood Reporter

"One of my favorite burgeoning subgenres of recent years is the Netflix Algorithm Show: a series seemingly produced or acquired not so much because it represented a fully baked idea, but because everybody in the room could envision with absolute certainty all the different Netflix categories it could be slotted into," says Daniel Fienberg. "There are dozens of true crime shows and Black Mirror knockoffs I would put in this genre, but Tom Bidwell's The Irregulars may be the mother of all Netflix Algorithm Shows. Not only is Bidwell a Netflix favorite after writing the service's adaptation of Watership Down, but The Irregulars practically demands to be pitched as Sherlock Holmes — Netflix has the Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr. Sherlocks, plus the well-received Enola Holmes — meets Stranger Things meets Bridgerton. Rest assured that if you've watched any of those, this new drama is about to be relentlessly suggested to you. With shades of various CW dramas and just the smallest dash of The Crown, it hardly matters whether The Irregulars is successful on its own terms if it's familiar on so many others."

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• The Irregulars is heartbreaking, a wrenching meditation on the power of grief: "One of the best television shows of the year so far is a wrenching meditation on the power of grief," says Noah Berlatsky. "Loss, in the series, can take over your mind. It can lead even good people to horrible acts of violence. It can destroy you and everyone around you. It can tear the very nature of reality apart. You might think I’m talking about Disney+’s WandaVision. But this description also applies to Netflix’s less hyped, but far superior, The Irregulars. WandaVision is part of the hugely popular Marvel Cinematic Universe, and its twisty plot and multiple surprise reveals generated a billion fan theories and think pieces. The Irregulars, with lesser-known stars, no franchise tie-in and a lower budget, is unlikely to be that kind of hit. But if you do tune in, in its quiet way, this show will break your heart."
• The Irregulars isn't a great Sherlock Holmes spinoff, but it's still a lot of fun: "This isn’t a prestige project," says Judy Berman. "It’s a stew of teen drama, period soap, supernatural mystery and pulp horror, modernized via girl-power story lines and color-blind casting. There’s nothing special about the acting, directing or writing, which foregrounds monster-of-the-week plots. That’s not a complaint, though. The reason to watch The Irregulars is because it’s fun. And it’s most fun when it leans into dark pastiche: opium dens, taxidermists, occultists staging murder scenes to resemble tarot cards. Does the show need Sherlock? No. But there’s room for him, too, in its kitchen-sink approach to creepy Victoriana."
• The Irregulars manages to utilize some of the built-in realities of a preexisting property without being beholden to it: "The younger heroes are the main emphasis here, and there’s little preciousness about having to maintain strong connections to the source material," says Steve Greene. "There are some nods to past interpretations, though some familiar throughlines and characters are dispatched as soon as they’re introduced. Dr. Watson (Royce Pierreson) is the biggest exception, a large presence helping to shape the ways that Beatrice and the rest of the group get involved in each passing case. Instead, the influences are the other mystery/sci-fi/fantasy touchstones of recent decades, all with their attending benefits and drawbacks. There’s a monster-of-the-week nature to the group’s trackdown of the various London menaces on the loose."
• The Irregulars is handsomely mounted and well played all around: "But appropriately it’s the younger players — not as young as their characters necessarily — who raise the series into something out of the ordinary," says Robert Lloyd, adding: "The show is full of feeling — its subject, stated explicitly and often, is family and friends and the people who have your back: your Scooby Gang, your Bowery Boys, your indivisible team."
• The Irregulars proves unexpectedly fun, in what amounts to a Victorian version of The X-Files: "The Irregulars playfully jumbles expectations, while possessing a darker and harder edge than another recent Netflix production mixing teens with Arthur Conan Doyle's creation, the movie Enola Holmes, in what might be the most particular 'You might like' combination the service can offer. Street boys called the Irregulars were featured in a few of the original Holmes stories, but any similarity pretty much ends there. Indeed, the eight-episode series quickly takes on a life of its own, building toward a somewhat messy (perhaps inevitably, given the subject matter) conclusion that provides a degree of closure while leaving the door ajar for further adventures."
• The Irregulars finds its strength in a compelling plot: "Instead of dragging on one central mystery across eight almost-hour-long episodes, Bidwell chooses to focus on singular cases. Because of the paranormal elements, the result unfolds less like traditional Sherlock Holmes sleuthing, where minute observations unlock a puzzle-box case, and more like a Victorian Era X-Files," says Petrana Radulovic. "The first half of the show follows separate incidents that are each chilling in their own way. In one, a mysterious culprit steals the teeth of sleeping victims. The next episode follows Tarot-themed murders in a remote Gothic mansion. They are all uniquely and wonderfully horrifying, and by tapping into speculative fiction, Bidwell and his crew keep the show from feeling like it’s chained to the great legacy of Sherlock Holmes. Unlike The X-Files, which usually dipped into totally separate paranormal phenomena, The Irregulars does make it clear that its supernatural occurrences share some connection."
• While the tone is sufficiently fresh, the episodic monster hunts are too often stale as week-old biscuits: "That this Holmesian adventure leans hard into the supernatural is a pleasing twist, but its line-up of mystic perps is lifted from the same sub-Buffy playbook that’s been doing the rounds since the late ’90s, be they shapeshifter, evil tooth fairy or ornithological wizard," says James Dyer. "Luckily, the episode-specific mysteries are merely the bones of the show, the real meat coming from a gradually unfurling narrative involving a supernatural apocalypse, Jess’ emerging psychic powers, and the potentially sinister goings-on at 221b Baker Street."
• The Irregulars’ gore stretches the limits of its TV-14 rating: "Even Stranger Things doesn’t have this kind of graphic, gruesome depiction," says Gwen Ihnat of a face-skinning scene. "Veering on the horrific side of picturesque," she adds, "The Irregulars’ gore stretches the limits of its TV-14 rating, which is unfortunate, because without all the carnage, The Irregulars would have made a fun watch for tweens. Fortunately London’s effectively atmospheric hellscape (partly filmed at Liverpool’s Stanley Dock, home of Peaky Blinders and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes) is tempered somewhat by the plucky determination of The Irregulars’ young leads and their iron-like bond."