New big-twist Sherlock Holmes reboot series hands USA Network a big win

Here we go again — just when you thought the Sherlock Holmes universe had coughed up every possible spin-off, someone finds a historical oddity hidden in the archives and says, 'No, that could absolutely be a telly series.' Enter Sherlock's Secretary, a procedural TV reboot with quite a weird little hook: it centres not on the detective himself, nor Dr Watson, but on the person who used to answer Holmes' mail. And yes — there really was such a person, but not in the way most people expect.

The Real Story Behind Baker Street’s Secretary

First, a quick bit of history, because this set-up will make zero sense unless you know the odd saga of 221B Baker Street. Despite the obsessive detail in Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories (which kicked off back in 1887 with 'A Study in Scarlet'), Baker Street in Victorian London actually ended at number 85. So when all those fans wrote directly to Holmes at 221B asking for help with their everyday troubles, the post had nowhere to go. That changed in 1932, when the Abbey National building society built a sprawling new headquarters and cheekily assigned themselves the numbers 219-229 on Baker Street, making the fictional address a reality overnight.

What came next was both surreal and, frankly, a genius PR move. Abbey National started receiving sacks of post addressed to Holmes himself — so much, in fact, that they officially hired secretaries to reply to the letters in the detective’s name. (Because someone had to.) The most famous of these was Chris Bazlinton, who did the job for seven years up until 1982 and apparently answered around 6,000 letters in that time.

In Bazlinton's words to The Economist: "Somebody had to answer."

From Historical Curiosity to TV Plot

This odd tradition is what’s inspired the new show. The brains behind it are Bruce Nash (a producer who came across the story and saw TV gold) and Andy Berman, a writer you might know from Psych and High Potential. Berman is set to be both producer and showrunner, and the premise sounds like the sort of thing that either becomes cult viewing or vanishes after episode three.

The basic set-up: a quirky Londoner, after years spent writing replies as Holmes' secretary, decides she’s picked up enough detective skills via osmosis to start handling cases herself. Cue more adventures ‘from the desk of 221B’ in the vein of Miss Sherlock, The Irregulars, and Enola Holmes. The show's also got an adviser who’s lived it — Gug Kyriacou, another one of those secretaries, is attached as a consultant.

Sherlock's Secretary is "a television series hiding inside that story," producer Bruce Nash said to Deadline.

What’s Next for the Franchise?

At this point, there’s no word yet on casting, air date, or even which British accent the new secretary will have. But the Holmes offshoot industrial complex is hardly slowing down. There’s also Moriarty Rising: A Sherlock Holmes Tale, a standalone arch-villain origin film announced last June, and Sherlock & Daughter heading back for a second season.

Sherlock's Secretary is the first spin-off directly inspired by the real historical practice of responding to Holmes' fan mail.