The BBC is to don the deerstalker with two new projects about Arthur Conan Doyle – one about the author's fraught relationship to his most famous creation Sherlock Holmes – with both landing just in time for Christmas.
The first show, Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle, is a new three-partner in which historian Worsley (who presented the BBC's Royal History's Biggest Fibs) explores the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and author Doyle, who was not, in fact, his fictional detective's greatest admirer.
The second is a dramatisation of Doyle's ghost story Lot No. 249, which is being adapted for the screen by Sherlock (2010-2017) co-creator Mark Gatiss, who also played Mycroft Holmes in the award-winning BBC series. It will feature Game of Thrones star Kit Harington and Freddie Fox.
“I have had a life-long crush on Sherlock Holmes, so it was the biggest pleasure imaginable to explore his life, death and resurrection," said Worsley about her new series.
"While exploring his life and times, I also got a real and sometimes troubling insight into manliness, Empire and Victorian values. I find his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, to be a complex, contradictory and endlessly fascinating character."
In the new series, Worsley will investigate the Victorian author's relationship with his most famous creation by speaking to experts and fans, as well as diving into archives.
“Examining the dual biographies of Holmes and Doyle is a fascinating way to re-consider these detective stories," said BBC Studios' executive producer Amanda Lyon. "And Lucy is the ideal investigator.”
Then, as if that wasn't enough for Sherlock fans, the BBC has also announced that Mark Gattis is adapting one of Conan Doyle's short stories – a gothic horror that was first published in 1892 – into a 30-minute short.
Lot No. 249 tells the story of a University of Oxford medical student, Abercrombie Smith, who notices strange things happening to fellow student, Edward Bellingham. Bellingham is studying Egyptology and seems to have awakened some kind of spirit after purchasing a number of ancient Egyptian artefacts.
Harington and Fox will star in the upcoming ghost story, though further details about their specific roles are still to be announced.
“It’s a serious delight for me to delve once again into the brilliant work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this time for the Christmas Ghost story," said Gatiss.
"Lot No.249 is a personal favourite and is the grand-daddy (or should that be Mummy?) of a particular kind of end of Empire chiller: a ripping yarn packed with ghastly scares and who-knows-what lurking in the Victorian closet…”
