Across four seasons, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman delivered an all-time great adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective stories with BBC’s Sherlock. The series may be long over (unless we’re lucky enough to see a Season 5), but one co-creator of the series isn’t done with Conan Doyle’s work yet. That's because Mark Gatiss, who created Sherlock alongside Steven Moffat, is behind an upcoming adaptation that will star Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington.
Lot No. 249 is a gothic horror short story that the Sherlock Holmes author published back in 1892 in between his detective mystery novels. It’s about a University of Oxford athlete named Abercrombie Smith (whom Harington will play) who begins to notice some strange events occurring around an Egyptology student named Edward Bellingham (to be played by Freddie Fox). Per Deadline, the special will be part of BBC’s winter programming. Gatiss said this about the upcoming addition to the 2023 TV schedule:
It’s a serious delight for me to delve once again into the brilliant work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this time for the Christmas Ghost story. Lot No.249 is a personal favourite and is the grand-daddy — or should that be Mummy? — of a particular kind of end of empire chiller: a ripping yarn packed with ghastly scares and who-knows-what lurking in the Victorian closet.
Over the years, BBC has produced annual short television films known as A Ghost Story For Christmas. The tradition ran originally from 1971 to 1978 before being revived back in 2005. It has aired sporadically across the years with Mark Gatiss serving as the writer/director for the past five editions.
So far, Gatiss has adapted M.R. James stories like “A View From A Hill” in 2005, “Number 13” in 2006, “Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad” in 2010, “The Tractate Middoth” in 2013, “Martin’s Close” in 2019, “The Mezzotint” in 2021 and “Count Magnus” in 2022.
For Lot No. 249, other actors involved include Colin Ryan, John Heffernan, James Swanton, Jonathan Rigby and Andrew Horton. The special was filmed in Hertfordshire, UK and it awaits an official release date.
Kit Harington’s latest role comes as the actor is also expected to return as Jon Snow in an upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff and has an unknown future in the MCU after his superhero role was briefly set up in 2021’s Eternals. While many thought he might be in the cast of Blade, for example, Harington has since clarified that he was never meant to be in the upcoming vampire movie starring Mahershala Ali.
On the Sherlock front, the BBC series seems to have told its final mystery for now, as Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have moved on from their iconic roles. Perhaps the most notable adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective since then has been through Millie Bobby Brown’s Enola Holmes movies where Henry Cavill portrayed Mr. Holmes. There are also whispers that a third Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey Jr. could happen, but it’s not in production. So, even though Sherlock is over, the beloved detective is still very prominent in pop culture.
You can look forward to BBC’s Lot No. 249 special this Christmas!
