Elementary: US Sherlock Series on CBS

Sherlock Holmes, played by Jonny Lee Miller, was a consultant for the FBI and Scotland Yard. He became a drug addict and therefore unable to fulfill his role.

After a stint in rehabilitation ended with his escape on the day of his release (he was bored), Dr Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) is sent to be his 'sober companion'. Her job is to keep him on the straight and narrow, as he solves his cases with his usual brilliance.

And Holmes is brilliant. He can gather clues from the flimsiest of sources. His mental capacity for deduction is legendary. He is rarely wrong.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories have been thrilling readers since the Victorian era. In fact, he's credited with kick-starting the whole idea of a fandom!  While the original Holmes was located firmly in 19th century London, this one is based in Brooklyn.

This is Holmes brought right up to date. These are 21st century cases with all of the modern technology and transport at his disposal. 

But he's still recognizably Sherlock Holmes with all his faults and genius.

The premise behind Elementary makes it an obvious rival to the existing show Sherlock.

Both shows have up-dated Conan Doyle's setting, to bring the famous detective into the modern day. But Sherlock had already aired its second season before Elementary was even conceived.

The blatant copy-cat tactic will not be lost on fans. It has downright annoyed the team behind the BBC show.

Sherlock's producer Sue Vertue has already had to correct one newspaper story, which erroneously stated that her people have created Elementary too.  That was very nearly the case.

Vertue and writer Steven Moffat have both stated that CBS Television approached them to make an American version of Sherlock. They responded with interest, but it couldn't happen just yet. Moffat was tied up with the next season of Dr Who. 

CBS Television promptly cut them out of all further negotiations. The company brought in Rob Doherty to write and produce Elementary instead.

That concerns Moffat beyond the fact of the slight. With the two shows being so similar there is the danger of them becoming confused. They are competing for the same audience, which might cause a great divide.

Plus, if Elementary turns out to be a flop, then that impacts upon the selling power of Sherlock too. New viewers will just assume that the latter is more of the same. He's already warned that, if the CBS show has infringed on his copyright, then he will be taking action. 

The choice of lead actor has also raised eyebrows.  The star of Sherlock is Benedict Cumberbatch. He and Elementary star Jonny Lee Miller played interchangeable roles in the National Theatre's 2011 production of Frankenstein. On alternate nights, the two actors would swop the parts of the doctor and the creature. They shared the Best Actor win in the Evening Standard's Theatre Awards. Now they could be seen as interchangeable Sherlocks too.

Naturally, executives at CBS have played down the whole furor.  They told The Independent that only those elements in the public domain, penned by Conan Doyle, have been co-opted in their show. The BBC production's copyright remains intact.

Elementary will air on CBS Television in September 2012.