Fremantle and British production firm Archery Pictures (Is This Thing On?, Riviera, Fate: The Winx Saga), the company of producer Kris Thykier, will collaborate on a new original crime drama series with the working title Moriarty, written by Chris Cornwell (A Discovery of Witches, Strike Back) and Oliver Lansley (Where’s Wanda?, Flack).
Archery and Fremantle will co-produce the show “inspired by” Professor James Moriarty, the fictional character created by Arthur Conan Doyle as the formidable archenemy of Sherlock Holmes.
The partners described the project as “a modern reinvention of the crime procedural, based on the most famous villain in all of detective fiction.”
A synopsis reads: “James Moriarty is a Professor of Criminal Psychology at Durham University but leads a secret double life as the mastermind behind every crime of sophistication in the North of England. When a rival criminal begins an assault on his underground empire, Moriarty will have only one choice: to join the police as a consultant, using the law as a weapon to dismantle his foe while keeping his true identity hidden from the police.” He gets paired with Detective Imogen Burrows, “a stoic Yorkshire detective” to form “a fearsome team, but Moriarty will soon realize that the real threat isn’t the rival criminal faction he’s dismantling, but Imogen’s increasingly perceptive suspicions.”
Said Archery founder Thykier: “We are thrilled to be working with Fremantle to bring to life the original and character-driven spin-off from the Sherlock Holmes universe that Chris Cornwell has created. Moriarty will show audiences what it takes to be a criminal genius, combining genre thrills with a playful, dark, and thrilling dive into the psychology of villainy.”
Rebecca Dundon, senior vp, scripted content at Fremantle, highlighted: “We instantly saw huge potential for a commercial, returning franchise that brings to life one of the more allusive characters in the Sherlock world: Moriarty. It’s exciting to collaborate with Kris and the team at Archery to bring a premium, propulsive, contemporary drama to screen that will not only be clever and hooky, but also give us a fresh spin on the procedural crime format with an unconventionally brilliant protagonist at the heart who will constantly surprise and frustrate viewers in a highly entertaining manner!”
Fremantle will handle global sales on the series.
The partnership with Archery is one of several creative collaborations and development deals that Fremantle has forged with such talent as Kristen Stewart’s Nevermind Pictures, Academy Award winner Emma Stone and Dave McCary’s Fruit Tree, the BAFTA-winning Me+You Productions, Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula, Luca Guadagnino, Paolo Sorrentino, Rachel Weisz and Polly Stokes’ Astral Projection, Edward Berger and his label Nine Hours, Johan Renck and Michael Parets’ Sinestra.
