0/5

Nine uncovers new Sherlock series

Nine has picked up Sherlock, the new British miniseries on the classic detective reimagined by Doctor Who writers.

Channel Nine has picked up Sherlock, the new British miniseries being developed by Doctor Who writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch (pictured, Hawking, The Last Enemy, Tipping the Velvet) in the title role of Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman (The Office, Love, Actually) as Doctor John Watson, the 3 x 90 series is a re-imagining of the classic Sherlock Holmes tale set in modern day London. It also features Rupert Graves (Wallander, Waking the Dead, Ashes to Ashes).

A Press Release indicates, the character of  Sherlock is “an analytical deduction fanatic, helping the police out with their enquiries for fun. Dr John Watson, fresh from serving in the war in Afghanistan and initially sceptical, is soon drawn in by Holmes’ brilliant mind and dangerous lifestyle and the two quickly forge an alliance. Sherlock provides the inspired leaps of intellect while Watson keeps his friend’s flights of fancy grounded, culminating in the perfect partnership.”

“This new production of Sherlock will be a valuable addition to our schedule later this year,” said Nine’s Michael Healy. “The BBC produce this style of drama well and audiences in Australia traditionally embrace it.”

Mark Gatiss is believed to be overseeing the production at BBC Wales while Steven Moffat helms Doctor Who. It is yet to premiere in the UK.

The deal with BBC Worldwide Australia follows Nine’s acquisition of the Top Gear brand.

21 Responses

  1. Amazingly great! Tonight’s premiere on channel 9 was so great. Witty, funny, clever, hilarious…. belly laughs from me… I loved it & can’t wait for tomorrow night’s episode. It won’t be cut, all you doubters. Shame on you! Too good!

  2. Hmmm, really quite disappointed. Really, the show is not suitable for channel Nine – too many ads, and because they’re hour and a half long episodes, they’re likely to be cut up. I would have rather seen the ABC or SBS get this. *sighs*

  3. Currently on ABC1 Mondays 12:30 pm “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” is being aired, Jeremy Brett played a fantastic Sherlock Holmes and this new version should be judged against this version.

    Nine is brave for taking for this on as it doesn’t suit to have a programme like this on Nine.

    Firstly its not American and its too intelligent when compared against some of there recent programming.

  4. Remember the good old days when everything british ended up on ABC? I miss those days. We should start a collection so that they can afford to do that again. lol

  5. Anonymous – Doctor Who is made by professionals so while Moffat and Gatiss are long-time Doctor Who fans they did not work on the show because they are fans. Their work is based on their experience writing for television. While Doctor Who is made by Doctor Who fans they are not made solely for them.

    A lot of TV writers in the UK became writers because of their experience growing up watching Doctor Who inspiring them to write. So based on your attitude Anonymous you will be basically discriminating any very good writer simply because they are Doctor Who fans.

    I suspect that your attitude to Doctor Who is based on negative attitudes to Doctor Who pre-2005 and not the quality of Doctor Who of the past few years. If this is the case then your attitude is simply out of touch.

  6. Anonymous – Gatiss is best known for The League Of Gentleman not Who and Moffatt (who has just taken over as Who show-runner) was the brains behind Coupling, Jeckyl and Press Gang! Don’t let your prejudices put you off this!!

    And Quokka according to a source from UKTV – it doesn’t look like they have considered this show yet but they very well could consider it down the track!!

  7. Nine, please on sell this to ABC now, that way we can see it:
    1. This year;
    2. In full (no edits);
    3. With no commercials;
    4. In order;
    5. In a Sunday night 8.30pm timeslot.

  8. @chk chk: shouldn’t the question be “I thought it was ABC who has an output deal with the BBC?” I think a drama like Sherlock will be more suitable for ABC, although BBC Worldwide can sell programs to whichever network it likes.

  9. So BBC Wales have Merlin on Ten, Sherlock on Nine and Doctor Who on ABC!! Nice to see!
    I’m looking forward to this one! Mark Gatiss is great with English period piece dramas (as he has shown in Doctor Who with Idiots Lantern and Unquiet Dead as well as the new ep for series 5 which sees the Daleks woven into war time history) and Steven Moffat (the Grand Moff) brought us the brilliant retelling of Jeckyl!! Can’t wait – lets hope don’t muck around with it and are able to put it in a good timeslot!!

  10. “This new production of Sherlock will be a valuable addition to our schedule later this year,” said Nine’s Michael Healy. “The BBC produce this style of drama well and audiences in Australia traditionally embrace it.”

    Yes, its true, the BBC is reknown for producing top flight programming and Chanel 9 is known as “magic fingers” – cos everything they touch turns to cr*p! They already have top flight British series that they just will not screen, even after having it in the schedule 3 weeks running (Waking the Dead). Having to suffer interminable ad breaks of 9-10 ads will just kill it. Australians do embrace it – on the ABC where it can be screened as made

    Pity…

Leave a Reply