Sherlock Holmes remains a prime source of inspiration for TV execs so what to do when series about the iconic private detective have become almost ubiquitous?
Elementary, my dear reader; turn to his arch nemesis, Professor James Moriarty.
The criminal mastermind, created by author Arthur Conan Doyle to torment his famously observant protagonist, is set to star in his own drama series from Archery Pictures and Fremantle.
The show, tentatively titled “Moriarty,” will offer a contemporary twist on one of fiction’s most famous villains, with Moriarty re-imagined as a professor of criminal psychology at Durham University leading a secret life as the mastermind behind some of the most sophisticated crimes 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,” reads the logline. “Paired with Detective Imogen Burrows, a stoic Yorkshire detective, they’ll form a fearsome team, but Moriarty will soon realise that the real threat isn’t the rival criminal faction he’s dismantling, but Imogen’s increasingly perceptive suspicions…”
