A winning combination: Jude Law & Downey Jr

WHEN IT WAS first announced that British director Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, RocknRolla) would be behind the latest big-screen outing of one of Britain's best-loved fictional detectives, Sherlock Holmes, there was much eyebrow raising. Could this "guns and geezers" director pull it off and do this national institution justice?

The answer is a resounding yes. Add Robert Downey Jr (Holmes), who won a Golden Globe for his performance, and Jude Law (Watkins) – whose on-screen banter was a pleasant surprise – and some stunning sets and you have a comedy/action film that is simply unabashed good fun.

Following such a film, locations such as St Paul's, Manchester Town Hall and Liverpool Docks are bound to attract extra visitors. However, to truly get on the case of Holmes, make sure you check out VisitBritain and Warner Bros Pictures' fantastic new website visitbritain.com/sherlockholmes. Here you'll find footage from the film, locations used in the film and connected with Holmes, itineraries to London, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh, and a moviemap. Plus you can download an iPhone app to help you find Britain's most iconic film locations.

And don't miss our very own feature on Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in the February/March 2010 issue, currently on sale. "Imagine the world as the great fictional detective might have seen it," writes Crispin Andrews. "The pale dusty afternoon enlivened by an occasional flash of colour, as a horse drawn cart rattled past or a well-dressed lady hurried on her way. The creeping anonymity of a gas-lit night." Looking at Guy Ritchie's dramatisation of "the world's most famous consulting detective" who, "with his sharp wit, deductive reasoning has become a household name throughout the world," we explore locations used in the new film and those captured in the original Holmes stories. What was the world like in which Doyle set his famous duo? Don your deerstalkers and follow our clues.