Written and produced by showrunner Matthew Parkhill, Young Sherlock is touted as an irreverent, action-packed origin story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved detective in an explosive retelling of this iconic character.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin (pictured) will play the title role, while Guy Ritchie will direct and produce the eight-episode series.
At 19, Sherlock Holmes is dishonored, raw, unfiltered and unformed when he becomes entangled in a murder mystery at Oxford University that threatens his freedom. With a wild lack of discipline, Sherlock dives into his very first case and unravels a global conspiracy that will change his life forever.
Simon Kelton, Ivan Atkinson, Simon Maxwell, Dhana Gilbert, Colin Wilson and Marc Resteghini also direct. Harriet Creelman is co-executive producer.
“In Young Sherlock we’re going to see an exhilarating new version of the detective everyone thinks they know in a way they’ve never imagined before,” said Ritchie. “We’re going to crack open this enigmatic character, find out what makes him tick, and learn how he becomes the genius we all love.”
Kelton originally conceived the project and packaged it with Atkinson, then partnered with Motive, Gilbert, and Resteghini, who developed and brought the series to Amazon MGM Studios. Gilbert and Resteghini have overall deals with Amazon MGM Studios.
“This exciting, new chapter about one of the world’s best-known literary characters, will delight our global customers with its captivating storytelling” said Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. “With the brilliant creative team, led by Guy Ritchie and Matthew Parkhill, we will explore untold mysteries of how young Sherlock found his way to a life of truth-seeking.”
The series reunites Ritchie and Tiffin, who starred in Ritchie's most recent film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. On the series front, he appeared in Safe, the Netflix series based on a Harlan Coben story, starring Michael C. Hall, the six-part ITV miniseries Cleaning Up and The Tunnel, the British version of Bron/Broen, starring Stephen Dillane and Clémence Poesy.