NORMAL PEOPLE
SINCE Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world in 1887’s A Study In Scarlet, the detective has become one of fiction’s most enduring characters. Need proof? Well, here we are in 2021 with The Irregulars, a spectacular supernatural adventure series based on characters who merit the sum total of five lines in a Holmes story.
The whole enterprise is ostensibly fronted by Harrison Osterfield, a relative newcomer who is tipped for big things and already counts Spider-Man actor Tom Holland among his A-list pals. But despite The Irregulars being his big break, even he had doubts as to whether the world really needed another Sherlock Holmes spin-off.
‘I remember thinking, mmm, aren’t there quite a lot of those?’ he says. ‘But when I read it, I realised this is a very different take, not least because Sherlock is in the worst place that we’ve ever seen him – the story delves into drugs and addiction, and he can no longer solve the cases he once could.’
Which is where The Irregulars come in. Enlisted by a menacingly manipulative Dr Watson (Royce Pierreson), minder to Sherlock-inmeltdown (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), four of the five are barely scraping a living on the poverty line. Osterfield’s character, the delicate but brainy Leopold, is very much the odd one out.
‘He’s actually based on Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria’s youngest son,’ he says. ‘It was fascinating to delve into the life of a real person who I admit I’d never been aware of.’
Once he’s accepted into The Irregulars, whom he meets by chance, the aristocratic Leopold becomes the analytical brains of the operation, a counterpoint to feisty gang leader Bea. Their burgeoning relationship is one of the show’s key attractions, though it’s
SHERLOCK GETS SUPERNATURAL AS NETFLIX’S UNIQUE SERIES THE IRREGULARS STIRS UP AN OLD CLASSIC, FINDS KEITH WATSON
a romance frequently derailed by the grisly evils of the supernatural world.
It’s hard to believe, given his chiselcheeked good looks, but Harrison locked into Leopold’s diffident nature.
‘I was a pretty shy kid – like Leo, I struggled to talk to girls,’ he says. ‘In fact, my first experience in acting was going to a drama class just so I could impress a girl. It didn’t go well!’
The Irregulars is a big step up for the amiable 24-year-old, who had a small part in George Clooney’s Catch-22 but whose major claim to fame had been acting as Tom Holland’s personal
‘My first experience of acting was going to a drama class to impress a girl – it didn’t go well’
assistant on the set of the Spider-Man movies. The pair met at drama school so is there any chance of Tom repaying the compliment?
‘There was talk about him coming on set to be my assistant for a week,’ jokes Osterfield. ‘But obviously he’s smashing it at the moment and he’s a great person to draw on for experience. I phoned him up before this to get tips on how to deal with press junkets!’
Surely when you start out together, there has to be some competitiveness?
‘Tom is at a very high level now and I would love to reach that kind of level,’ he says. ‘But we’re best mates and it’s not competitive, jealousy doesn’t creep in. It would be toxic if it did.’
Osterfield chuckles at the thought that Holland might one day be found prowling the creepy Victorian streets of The Irregulars if, as seems likely, it’s a series that runs and runs. If he did, he’d need to be prepared for sights scarier than anything he’s encountered in the Spider-verse. Which story particularly creeped Harrison out?
‘The one with taxidermists and face-swappers, that gets pretty dark,’ he grimaces. ‘When you’re on set with people walking past with their faces ripped off… that’s pretty scary!’
The Irregulars season one is on Netflix on Friday