Rafe Spall will star in The Death of Sherlock Holmes, a new European drama series that takes on one of the most discussed gaps in literary history: what Arthur Conan Doyle never wrote about the three years Sherlock Holmes was presumed dead.
The project brings together Sky's Switzerland arm, content financier and producer Silver Reel, Switzerland's SRF, Germany's ARD Degeto, Umedia, and distributor Sphere Abacus. Production has already begun, with a 2027 premiere date set, according to Deadline. Spall, known for Under Salt Marsh and Trying, stars alongside Deleila Piasko, who appeared in The Exposure and Transatlantic.
The series begins at Reichenbach Falls, where Holmes apparently perished in his final confrontation with Professor Moriarty. Per the official synopsis, the show "reveals for the first time what happened during the three mysterious years between his disappearance in 1891 and his return in 1894 — a chapter that Arthur Conan Doyle left untold and which now finds its story."
The story opens with an Englishman found barely alive in an icy mountain stream by a local woman named Alma and her young son, Franz. When the village doctor turns up murdered, the community turns against the boy. The amnesiac stranger, remembering nothing but displaying flashes of sharp deductive reasoning, becomes the boy's only defender. As fragments of memory return, the conspiracy grows wider and points toward who the stranger may once have been.
Claudia Bluemhuber, CEO of Silver Reel, created the series alongside André Küttel and director Pierre Monnard. Küttel and Simone Schmid wrote the scripts, with the project described as inspired by the iconic characters of Arthur Conan Doyle. Bluemhuber and Monnard serve as both directors and showrunners. The project has received support from FFF Bayern and the IDM Film Commission.
Sky will broadcast the series exclusively in the UK and Ireland and stream it in Switzerland and Germany. SRF holds broadcast rights in Switzerland and ARD Degeto in Germany. Sphere Abacus handles international distribution.
Bluemhuber previously produced the International Emmy-winning Fallen. The Death of Sherlock Holmes will be her most internationally distributed project to date.
