(left - right) Robert Downey Jr, Guy Ritchie and Jude Law attend the European premiere of Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows at the Empire Leicester Square, London

London film director Guy Ritchie has described how filming the new Sherlock Holmes movie has reignited his love for the capital.

At the European premiere of Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows in Leicester Square last night, Ritchie said: “You’re given the keys to the city and it’s great to fall in love with London again.”

The director also said how leading man Robert Downey Jr makes the perfect Sherlock Holmes.

“There are a lot of correlations between Sherlock Holmes and him, they both sort of dance on that thin line between madness and sanity and there is no other American male actor I know that has the drawl so perfect, a flawless English accent,” said Ritchie.

Fellow Londoner Jude Law, who plays Watson in the film, confessed filming the second Holmes movie was a light-hearted affair.

“There wasn’t a lot of seriousness, to be honest. Guy’s very good at letting people play, and then he’s quite good at cracking the whip as well,” he said.

The new film sees Downey Jr reprise his role as the famed sleuth in the sequel to 2009 box office hit Sherlock Holmes - which sees his character reunite with friend Watson to battle criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty.

Braving the rain outside London’s Empire Leicester Square, admitted he would make a lousy detective in real life despite portraying Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved creation with gusto on screen.

The former hellraiser said he would never hold down a position as a private eye.

“I wouldn’t keep the job,” he revealed. “I tend not to exhaust myself thinking about details. I like to be creative instead.”