Fremantle partners with Kris Thykier indie on Sherlock villain series

Fremantle has partnered with Kris Thykier’s Archery Pictures to develop and produce a series about Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis Professor James Moriarty.

Written by Chris Cornwell (A Discovery of Witches) and Oliver Lansley (Flack), Moriarty (w/t) is a contemporary crime procedural inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional character. The series follows Moriarty, a professor of criminal psychology at Durham University, who 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 has no other option but to join the police as a consultant, using the law as a weapon to take down his foe, while keeping his true identity hidden from his officer colleagues.

However, he soon realises that the real threat isn’t from his criminal rival, but rather from the increasingly perceptive suspicions of his partner, Detective Imogen Burrows.

Archery Pictures and Fremantle will co-produce, with the super-indie handling global sales.

Rebecca Dundon, senior vice-president of scripted content at Fremantle, said: “We’ve been looking for a project to work with Archery on for a while and when Kris brought this to us, 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!”

Thykier added: “Moriarty (w/t) 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.”

Archery Pictures is behind Sky’s three-series thriller Riviera and Fate: The Winx Saga for Netflix. Cornwell’s other writing credits include Sky’s Strike Back and he was recently an exec producer for the Hong Kong adaptation of The Night Manager for Ink Factory. Lansley created and exec produced Apple TV’s debut German original Where’s Wanda.