Sky, SRF, ARD Degeto investigate The Death of Sherlock Holmes with Rafe Spall

FIRST LOOK: Rafe Spall and Deleila Piasko head the cast of The Death of Sherlock Holmes, a new series now in production and due to air on broadcasters including Sky in the UK in 2027.

SRF in Switzerland and Germany’s ARD Degeto are also on board the English-language project, which explores the missing chapter in the life of the world’s most famous detective.

The series begins with one of the most famous moments in literary history: the apparent death of Sherlock Holmes (Spall) at the Reichenbach Falls. While the world believes the master detective perished in his final duel with Professor Moriarty, The Death of Sherlock Holmes 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.

Set against the Swiss Alps, the story follows an Englishman found barely alive in an icy mountain stream by local woman Alma (Piasko) and her young son, Franz. When the village doctor is found murdered, villagers turn on the boy – leaving the amnesiac stranger as his only hope. Though the man remembers nothing, flashes of razor-sharp deduction betray a hidden past. As unsettling fragments of memory return, he must confront an unnerving question: who is he really? What starts as an isolated Alpine mystery soon opens into a far-reaching conspiracy that draws the man closer to the truth of his past – and the legendary name he may once have borne.

The cast also includes Dominic Geissbühler, Rick Okon, Marie Leuenberger, Michael Neuenschwander, Dimitri Stapfer, Susanne Kunz, Marcus Signer and Jeanette Hain.

The Death of Sherlock Holmes is created by Claudia Bluemhuber (Fallen), André Küttel (Platzspitzbaby) and Pierre Monnard (Winter Palace), written by Küttel and Simone Schmid (Die Beschatter), and inspired by the characters of Arthur Conan Doyle. Pierre Monnard and Bluemhuber are directing.

The Swiss-German-Belgian coproduction is produced by Silver Reel with Sky Switzerland, SRF, ARD Degeto and Umedia. Sphere Abacus is handling international distribution.

Sky will broadcast the series exclusively in the UK and Ireland. The series will stream on Sky in Switzerland and Germany, while SRF will broadcast in Switzerland and ARD Degeto in Germany. The project is supported by FFF Bayern and the IDM Film Commission.

Bluemhuber and Monnard are the showrunners, supported by co-execs Florian Dargel, Alexander Jooss, Fabian Stein, Baptiste Planche, Bettina Alber, Jonathan Ford and Will Stapley. Alen Bulic oversees the project for Silver Reel.

Filming will take place until July 2026 in Valais, Switzerland, as well as in South Tyrol and Bavaria.

tagged in: ARD Degeto, Deleila Piasko, Rafe Spall, Silver Reel, Sky, Sphere Abacus, SRF, The Death of Sherlock Holmes