Sherlock Holmes Animated Spin-Off ‘Baker Street Four’ Starts Production As Germany’s ARD Joins Major Euro Co-Production​on February 11, 2025 at 1:33 pm

EXCLUSIVE: Production has started on Baker Street Four, an animated series that follows a ragtag trio of street urchins – and a cat called Watson – who act as legendary detective Sherlock Holmes’ eyes and ears on the ground.

German public broadcaster ARD has come on board the project, joining the previously announced French pay TV giant Canal+ and teeing up big-ticket European co-production.

The show is based on the successful French comic book series ‘Les Quatre de Baker Street’, written by Jean-Blaise Djian and Olivier Legrand, and illustrated by David Etien.

Folivari and Blue Spirit are making the series, bringing together two award-winning France-based animation houses. News of the series first surfaced at the Annecy animation fest in 2019. With ARD on board it is now full steam ahead on production.

Skewing to a 6-to-10-year-old audience, the series is directed by Francis Canitrot. It will run to 12 parts and hit screens in 2027.

Specifically, Baker Street Four follows three of Holmes’ helpers and is an inside look at some of the group known in the Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories as the Baker Street Irregulars.

From the slums of Victorian London, the Baker Street Four of the series are Billy, who see himself as the brains of the band of urchins, Tom, an acrobat and ace pickpocket, and Charlotte, the resourceful one of the group. Their stray cat Watson completes the quartet.

Folivari Distribution – which is headed by Melissa Vega and was founded last year by her and Folivari founders Damien Brunner, Thibaut Ruby, and Didier Brunner – is across sales. Vega is at the Kidscreen confab in San Diego this week as the global rollout of the series takes shape.

“We’re thrilled to kick off production on the series, thanks to ARD’s greenlight,” she said. “We want the children to discover this series as their first co-viewing experience – one that brings the whole family together through thrilling investigations filled with comedy and adventure.”