Sherlock: The Game Is Now – First look inside new immersive escape room in Shepherd's Bush

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Lizzie Edmonds @lizzieedmo29 November 2018

These are the first pictures of the immersive Sherlock game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Mark Gatiss which opens in London next month.

The Standard was given the first look inside Sherlock: The Game Is Now, which has been built in the West 12 shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush.

Its creators include producers of the BBC show, co-writers Steven Moffat and Gatiss, who plays Sherlock’s elder brother Mycroft in the series, and the team behind one of London’s original escape room concepts, Time Run.

A few details about the new game have been released to whet the appetite of fans. Players take the role of detectives for crime-solving organisation The Network, who need volunteers as the famous sleuth is out of the country. After being given some basic training, they are put on the case, with help from some of the show’s characters, via video and real-life actors. The game begins in the living room of 221B Baker Street, a replica of where Cumberbatch’s Sherlock resides.

Each team of four to six people goes to three “rooms” during the 60-minute game, solving mysteries to progress to the next stage. The nature of the “plot” is a secret, but one representative hinted that players will be more concerned with “saving themselves”, rather than other people.

Teams get a 10-minute debrief at the end before moving on to an Arthur Conan Doyle bar for refreshments.

Tickets for next month’s soft launch are sold out, but more are available for January to May.

Gatiss said he was “very pleased” with the experience, adding: “We tried it today — and were useless. It’s great fun and Sherlock fans and non-fans alike will take great pleasure in it.”

Tickets start at £54 a person, with the total experience taking 110 minutes.

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