Nicholas Sercombe Leads Animated Sherlock Into Adult TV

Harry King Television is developing sherlock as an animated, adults-only series called Animated Sherlock. The project is built from Nicholas Sercombe’s The Unexpurgated Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and Sercombe says the animation route lets the story move “on a grander, more imaginative and risqué scale than before.”

Sercombe, Lipman, Ryan and John

David Lipman is heading up the project and working directly with Sercombe, while Michael Ryan and Tim John are also joined to the series. Sercombe said, “Having David, Michael and Tim steering the series with us combines their legacy in animation with the well-loved classic IP.”

That team points to a franchise play, not a one-off nostalgia exercise. Harry King Television is building this version around adults, and each season will revolve around a single mystery while episodes draw from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s canon and expand the backstories of Sherlock, Watson and Moriarty.

Animated Sherlock and Doyle

The source material already sets this adaptation apart. The Unexpurgated Adventures of Sherlock Holmes presents Doyle’s stories as sanitized for Victorian moral standards and restores the “full, sordid truth,” so the series is not just revisiting the detective — it is changing the lens on him.

Sercombe said, “Together we are creating our very own Sherlock Holmes universe that feels both timeless and completely fresh – rich in character, humor and adventure.” He also said, “We can’t wait for ‘Animated Sherlock’ (wt) to surprise audiences globally and imbue one of the world’s most beloved literary icons with newfound energy.”

No release timeline yet

There is no release timeline for Animated Sherlock, which leaves the project in development rather than on a date-driven rollout. For viewers, that means the main story for now is the creative line-up and the promise of an adult animation take that widens the franchise without leaning on a conventional live-action reboot.