Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, pictured here in 1923, created the detective character Sherlock Holmes in a series of stories first published in 1891. (Associated Press)

The BBC has created a modern-day Sherlock Holmes series, bringing Arthur Conan Doyle's popular detective into the present.

Sherlock has been sold to networks in the U.S. and Australia. A two-hour pilot and three other episodes are set to air sometime this year.

The series is the brainchild of actor/writer Mark Gatiss, who says he spent many lonely childhood days in a gritty British town immersed in Doyle's detective world.

"I retreated into Sherlock Holmes," Gatiss told The Guardian newspaper. "I wanted to live like an 1895 detective, not in a grim post-industrial town."

Gatiss says he still carries a complete copy of Sherlock Holmes just about everywhere he goes.

Now he's teamed up with Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat to bring the detective and his sidekick, Dr. Watson, about 100 years into the future.

"Everything that matters about Holmes and Watson is the same," said Moffat. "[Doyle's] stories were never about frock coats and gas light; they're about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes."

The pair will still reside in London at 221B Baker Street and the opium-smoking detective will also discover that his nemesis, Dr. Moriarty, has also made it into the 21st century.

None of the original plots will be used, according to a BBC statement. However, fans may "spot many of the echoes" of Doyle's stories.

The main actors are Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman (The Office) as his sidekick.

The series follows a successful Sherlock Holmes Christmas movie starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.