BBC/PBS partnership: Sherlock; Upstairs, Downstairs; Aurelio Zen

The BBC and PBS Masterpiece Theater are joining forces on three big new dramas. First up is the eagerly-awaited Sherlock Holmes update set in modern times. The new four-part series started filming on 19 January 2010, with Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement) playing the contemporary Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman (The Office) as his Dr. Watson -- recently returned from Afghanistan.

Rupert Graves co-stars as Inspector Lestrade and Una Stubbs will play Mrs. Hudson. The pilot is an hour-long, but the remaining three episodes will be 90-minutes each. This reinvention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth has been created by Mark Gatiss (League Of Gentlemen, Doctor Who) and Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Coupling). If Sherlock proves a success, Moffat has already said he'll have to take a backseat because of his commitment to Doctor Who.

A remake of classic '70s drama Upstairs, Downstairs (which won seven Emmys) about the class divisions in a British mansion just prior to WWII, has also been announced. There will also be an adaptation of three Aurelio Zen novels written by Michael Dibden, starring Rufus Sewell as the eponymous Italian detective. It comes from Left Bank Pictures, the same production company who gave us Swedish detective series Wallander with Kenneth Branagh, and will be shot on location in Italy.

These three shows are expected to air in 2010/11.