Fremantle and British production company Archery Pictures (Is This a Thing?, Riviera, Destiny: A Winx Saga)producer Chris Thickeer’s company, will collaborate on a new original drama series with the working title MoriartyWritten by Chris Cornwell (Discovery of Witches, Reply) and Oliver Lansley (Where is Wanda?, Flak).
Archery and Fremantle will co-produce the show “inspired by” Professor James Moriarty, the fictional character created by Arthur Conan Doyle as the archenemy of Sherlock Holmes.
The partners described the project as “a modern reinvention of crime procedurals, based on the most iconic villain in all of detective fiction.”
The synopsis reads: “James Moriarty is a professor of criminal psychology at Durham University but lives a secret double life as the mastermind behind every complex crime in the north of England. When a rival criminal launches an attack on his secret empire, Moriarty will have only one choice: join the police as a consultant, and use the law as a weapon to dismantle his rival while keeping his true identity hidden from the police.” He is paired with Detective Imogen Burrows, “a stoic Yorkshire detective” to form “a fearsome team, but Moriarty will soon realize that the real threat is not the rival criminal faction he is dismantling, but Imogen’s growing cognitive doubts.”
Said Archery founder Thekier: “We are thrilled to be working with Fremantle to bring to life an original film based on the character from the Sherlock Holmes universe created by Chris Cornwell. Moriarty It will show audiences what it takes to be a criminal genius, combining thrills with a fun, dark and exciting dive into the psychology of villainy.
Rebecca Dundon, Senior Vice President of Scripted Content at Fremantle, highlighted: “We immediately saw huge potential for a returning commercial series that brings to life one of the most allusive characters in the Sherlock universe: Moriarty. It’s exciting to collaborate with Kris and the team at Archery to bring a distinct, propulsive, contemporary drama to the screen that will not only be smart and brilliant, but will also give us a fresh take on the crime procedural format with a brilliant, unconventional protagonist at heart that will continually surprise and frustrate viewers in an entertaining way.” Extremely!
Fremantle will handle global sales for the series.
The partnership with Archery is one of many creative collaborations and development deals Fremantle has in place with talent such as Kristen Stewart’s Nevermind Pictures, Academy Award winner Emma Stone and Dave McCary’s Fruit Tree, BAFTA Award-winning Me+You Productions, Fabula by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín, Luca Guadagnino, Paolo Sorrentino, Rachel Weisz, and the stellar show of Polly Stokes, Edward. Berger and his Nine Hours label, Johan Renck and Michael Barretts’ Sinistra.
