Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

The concept for the series was created by Sandy Ross, a Scottish Television executive, who came up with the idea while skiing in Aspen, Colorado in 1996.[3] DiC Entertainment and Scottish Television had previously worked together to create other series and this continued the trend. Some issues were raised about language carrying different connotations between cultures, but alternative action and dialogue were used to overcome this.[3] There is a 2-part episode from the animated TV series BraveStarr that aired in September 1987 that has a similar idea in it.

Set in the 22nd century in New London, Inspector Beth Lestrade of New Scotland Yard is chasing the grotesquely deformed French rogue geneticist Martin Fenwick, when she realizes that his companion is none other than the 19th century criminal mastermind, Professor James Moriarty. They go on to discover that this is not the original Moriarty, but is in fact a clone created from cells taken from his corpse, which Sherlock Holmes had buried in a Swiss ice cave. Lestrade knows that Holmes survived and actually lived to a ripe old age and further knows that his corpse is preserved in a glass-walled, honey-filled coffin in the basement of New Scotland Yard. She takes the body from the basement and delivers it to biologist Sir Evan Hargreaves (who looks just like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) who has just invented a process of cellular rejuvenation. The biologist then uses his cellular rejuvenation technique to return life and youth to Holmes's body so that the detective can again battle Moriarty. Holmes also returns to his Baker Street rooms, which had been preserved as a museum. Lestrade's compudroid reads the original Watson's journals and assumes his name, face, voice and mannerisms in order to assist Holmes in both his crime-solving duties and his difficult assimilation to Great Britain in the 22nd century.

During the series, Holmes and Watson often work on retainer for New Scotland Yard, with Beth Lestrade as their supervising officer and Chief Inspector Charles Grayson as hers, but they also work for private citizens. They are often assisted by the new Baker Street Irregulars: the football player Wiggins, the Cockney Deidre and the paraplegic Tennyson, who communicates through electronic beeps (which Holmes understands after learning about the advances in technology and Morse code). The primary villains are Moriarty and his henchman Fenwick, appearing as they do in almost half of the produced episodes.

Each episode is inspired by one of the literary works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.[4]Many of these are direct rewrites of the original stories, such as "The Adventure of the Empty House", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", "The Five Orange Pips", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" - while others are drastically different from the stories on which they are supposed to be based.

Visually, the series is a blend of traditional 2-D and 3-D CGI animation.

The show premiered in the United Kingdom in the late spring of 1999 on CITV and then premiered in the fall in the United States. In the U.S., the series was split into two seasons, with the first airing on Fox Kids, and the other which was planned to air on Kids' WB in 2001, but instead aired on broadcast syndication.

In September 1999, Vision Video and Universal Studios Home Video UK released a VHS tape of the series in the United Kingdom, which contained the first three episodes in a feature-length format.[5]

In 2002, Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video released The Fall and Rise of Sherlock Holmes, a VHS/DVD which, like the U.K. VHS, consisted of the first three episodes in a feature-length format. The episode "The Sign of Four" was also included on the DVD version.

In 2003, Sterling Entertainment released another VHS/DVD of the series titled Out of This World. The release contained the episodes "The Sign of Four", "The Adventures of the Dancing Men" and "Silver Blaze", with the episode "The Gloria Scott" as a bonus episode on the DVD.

On February 21, 2012, Mill Creek Entertainment released Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century...On the Case on DVD, consisting of the first 10 episodes of the series in production order, and also containing an episode of Stargate Infinity. On the same day, a box set called Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century: The Complete 26 Episode Series was released, containing all 26 episodes alongside five bonus episodes from other Cookie Jar owned series.[6]These releases have since been discontinued and are now out of print.

On April 3, 2018, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 as Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century: The Complete Series. This version also came with a digital download code.[7]

• Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century on IMDb
• Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century at TV.com
• Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century on STV Player