'Stocking' is a strong new spin on Holmes

Surely there's a spot in the casting hall of fame for Rupert Everett, who brings such a cool imperiousness to his movie roles. The swank British actor offers a tall order of confidence and grandiosity, and directors have used him well over the decades. He's the man when you're talking philanderers, rogues, or royals.

But as Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street? You might as well cast Jack Black as Dr. Watson.

So it must be said that Everett makes a surprisingly engaging Holmes in the ''Masterpiece Theatre" presentation of ''Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking." In the movie, which premieres tomorrow at 9 p.m. on Channel 2, Everett projects all the archness you might expect to find in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth, with an added dash of junkie chic. He's miles from the classic movie image of Holmes, and there's not a deerstalker hat in sight, but he creates his own strong interpretation, all arrogance, exotic lassitude, and misogyny. And his hawk-like nose is perfect.

The PBS-BBC movie is not based on a specific Conan Doyle story; it has been invented by ''Prime Suspect 2" writer Allan Cubitt with an obvious nod to the many police procedurals on TV right now. Without the presence of Holmes and Watson (Ian Hart), the plot could easily play out as an episode of ''CSI: Foggy London," with detectives trying to locate the serial killer of young wealthy women. Indeed, like so many prime-time murder cases, the script happily toys with viewers, dangling a series of suspects and sexual perversions before us, before it ultimately disappoints with a prosaic denouement.

But ''The Case of the Silk Stocking" does have the unique allure of Holmes, his odd-couple attachment to Watson, and, in a twist, his curious rapport with Watson's new fiancee, a widowed American psychologist named Mrs. Vandeleur (played with intellectual brass by Helen McCrory). Holmes calls women ''necessary evils," but he is nonetheless seduced by Mrs. Vandeleur's professional insights into sexual perversity in killers. As Holmes tries to figure out who is murdering heiresses and stuffing stockings down their throats, he finds himself employing some of Mrs. Vandeleur's theories. The three make an amusing little triangle against the movie's formal backdrop.

We first meet Everett's pale Holmes languishing in an opium den. He's beating a retreat from life, especially now that his cohort, Watson, is engaged, and when Watson approaches him with the silk-stocking case, he is bitter. Watson urges Holmes to snap out of his funk, to which Holmes says, ''Frankly, Watson, save your breath to cool your porridge." Over the decades, some readers have speculated about a homoerotic undercurrent between the two men, and ''Masterpiece Theatre" allows room for that possibility without forcing the famous pair into anything out of character. Holmes is more comfortable with men, and for whatever reasons -- friendship, love, professional connection -- he and Watson are possessive of each other.

As the movie behaves like a contemporary TV procedural, it reminds us that Conan Doyle was there first, that the ''CSI" and ''Law & Order" shows take their cues from the original Holmes stories. And similarly, as Everett's Holmes recalls Hugh Laurie on ''House," it reminds us that House is based on Holmes, whose contempt and drug addiction also never corrupted his brilliance. (Indeed, it's only a few steps from ''homes" to ''house.") These contemporary links add layers to ''The Case of the Silk Stocking," even while they may challenge the patience of hard-core fans of Conan Doyle's work.