This is a first glimpse of an ageing Sherlock Holmes, as played by Sir Ian McKellen in upcoming film Mr Holmes. McKellen tweeted: “Over 70 actors have previously played Sherlock Holmes. Now he’s 93 years old and it’s my turn. #MrHolmes,”.
McKellen, actually a sprightly 75, is playing almost 20 years older in the adaptation of Mitch Cullin’s novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, which sees a retired, elderly Holmes eeking out his remaining years in a remote Sussex farmhouse, keeping bees and grappling with his waning mental powers, until a 50-year-old unsolved case returns to haunt him.
