Rafe Spall is set to lead “The Death of Sherlock Holmes,” a European drama series centered on the unexplored years between the detective’s presumed death at Reichenbach Falls and his reappearance in Arthur Conan Doyle’s canon.
The project brings together Sky Switzerland, Silver Reel, Swiss broadcaster SRF, Germany’s ARD Degeto, Umedia and distributor Sphere Abacus, with a 2027 launch planned. Spall, whose recent credits include “Under Salt Marsh” and “Trying,” stars opposite Deleila Piasko (The Exposure, “Transatlantic”).
Created by Silver Reel CEO Claudia Bluemhuber alongside André Küttel and Pierre Monnard, the series draws inspiration from Conan Doyle’s characters while imagining the untold period between 1891 and 1894. Küttel and Simone Schmid serve as writers. Production is now underway, with Monnard and Bluemhuber directing and also serving as showrunners.
The drama opens in the aftermath of Holmes’ apparent death at the Reichenbach Falls, one of the defining moments in literary history. Believed dead following his confrontation with Professor Moriarty, the detective instead resurfaces years earlier than expected in the Swiss Alps under mysterious circumstances.
According to the official synopsis, an Englishman is pulled half-dead from an icy Alpine stream by a local woman, Alma, and her son Franz. When a village doctor is murdered, and suspicion falls on the boy, the unidentified stranger becomes his only ally. Though suffering from amnesia, he reveals flashes of startling deductive instinct that suggest a buried past.
As fragments of memory begin to surface, the man begins to suspect he may be the missing Sherlock Holmes. What begins as an isolated murder mystery in the Swiss Alps gradually opens into a wider conspiracy connected to his disappearance.
Silver Reel is producing alongside Sky Switzerland, SRF, ARD Degeto and Umedia, with Sphere Abacus handling international sales. Sky will air the series in the UK and Ireland and stream it in Switzerland and Germany, while SRF and ARD Degeto will hold broadcast rights in their respective territories.
The project has received support from FFF Bayern and the IDM Film Commission. Executive producers include Florian Dargel, Alexander Jooss, Fabian Stein, Baptiste Planche, Bettina Alber, Jonathan Ford and Will Stapley, with Alen Bulic overseeing the production for Silver Reel.
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