Hot Picks: Blind Sherlock

From the producer of Netflix’s Rough Diamonds comes the fascinating Blind Sherlock, a show inspired by the true story of wiretapper Sacha Van Loo and his uncanny ability to solve crimes.

The idea for the series came from of a newspaper report read by showrunner Kristof Hoefkens. “Many years ago, I worked as a journalist, when a colleague wrote a story about Sacha Van Loo, a blind civilian who was working for the wiretapping unit of the police,” he says.

“It stuck with me. My co-writer Maarten Goffin and I decided to go talk to him: Sacha turned out to be intriguing, intelligent, talented and funny. Having a blind lead character in a police investigation was exactly the creative twist we were looking for in a cop show.”

The series initially immerses viewers in a drug-riddled Rotterdam, where violence is escalating as traffickers battle for turf. Faced with increasing pressure, detectives create a wiretapping unit, which Roman Mertens – who is blind – decides to join. Despite scepticism due to his blindness, his heightened senses and unique ability to uncover hidden details in the wiretaps – solving cases that others cannot crack – astonish his colleagues.

Van Loo and his team similarly helped to solve hundreds of cases across more than a decade, with their success gaining international attention.

The drama centres on Roman, tracking his life as he delves deeper into the city’s underworld while challenging perceptions of what it means to be a detective. Hoefkens, co-writer Goffin and director Joost Wynant (Under Fire) drive the project.

A key focus on Blind Sherlock was to balance the real-life story with fictional elements, a task the creators worked through following discussions with Van Loo. “We had many conversations with Sacha and took bits of his life and work, dramatised them and mixed them with fictional storylines,” says Hoefkens.

“For us, it was very important to make the ‘blind’ aspect of the show as truthful as possible, so we absolutely wanted to cast a visually impaired actor for the role of Roman,” he continues, with Bart Kelchtermans taking the role, while Frank Lammers (Ferry; Undercover) and Ayşegül Karaca also star.

Studio TF1 executive vice-president of international TV and digital distribution Camille Dupeuble says that while blindness is integral to the show’s narrative, it is not Roman’s only “defining trait”.

“His disability is not treated as a limitation,” she says. “On the contrary, his blindness allows for an original approach that focuses on his other senses and heightens the viewer’s engagement. We feel even more immersed in the action when we vicariously experience what the hero hears, smells and touches, rather than only what is being said or shown.”

It makes for a unique offering on the Studio TF1 slate and the show also offers format potential, Dupeuble says. “It’s a fresh and modern take on well-known IP, with a main character at the crossroads of Sherlock Holmes and Daredevil. We discover a positive portrayal of disability, where the hero turns blindness into a superpower.