Why is cinema obsessed with remakes?

The game is afoot! Yes, yet again! Hot on the hob-nailed heels of Enola Holmes, the Netflix film about the great detective’s younger sister, comes yet another spin on Sherlock.

This time the streaming service brings us The Irregulars, a gaggle of Victorian urchins hired by Dr Watson to investigate crimes with a supernatural element.

Elementary, you might say. Though I won’t, because it’s so tired and clichéd. And this convoluted Conan Doyle cash-in isn’t just jumping the shark — the producers of The Irregulars are so far gone, they’ve cleared the wall of the orcas’ tank and have beached themselves in the carpark.

‘Whatever is it like in your funny little brains?’, as Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock said. Or was it Robert Downey Junior? Or Jeremy Brett or Basil Rathbone or any of the good detective’s 250-plus screen appearances?

For Hollywood, familiarity breeds anything but contempt. Emma Stone is about to hit our screens as Cruella de Vil in a prequel to 101 Dalmatians. The