Lara Pulver joins SHERLOCK as Irene Adler

Lara Pulver has joined the cast of Sherlock for series 2, which is currently filming. She will be playing Irene Adler, the famous "love-interest" of Sherlock Holmes, for the episode "A Scandal In Belgravia".

This is great news. I've been a fan of Pulver since her wonderful Disney villain-esque turn in Robin Hood a few years ago, and hated watching her get wasted in True Blood as Sookie's fairy godmother. Adler will undoubtedly be a much juicier role for her, full of sparkling dialogue. I hope she has good chemistry with Benedict Cumberbatch's sleuth, too. Incidentally, Pulver's also joined Spooks for its tenth series, so her star's clearly on the rise.

I guess this kills the internet rumour that Jekyll's Michelle Ryan was being lined up by co-creator Steven Moffat as Irene Adler! What do you make of Pulver's casting? A great choice, or are you concerned?

SHERLOCK series 2 returns in early-2012 on BBC1 with three new 90-minute episodes: "A Scandal In Belgravia", "The Hounds Of Baskerville" and "The Reichenbach Fall".

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Mark Gatiss on 'Sherlock' series 2

Speaking at the Kapow convention over the weekend, writer/actor Mark Gatiss (League Of Gentlemen) divulged details about the second series of Sherlock. The new three-part run will adapt Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Scandal In Bohemia", "The Hound Of The Baskervilles" and "The Final Problem".

Gatiss, writer/co-creator:

Having had a successful first run, we knew that the natural order would be to do the three most famous things, so we're doing a version of [those three stories.] They just fall like that, and then it's a question of how to get out of that cliffhanger! Now that the scripts are well underway, [it's] about trying to find certain things between the three of them, where we can find a little bit of an arc. You don't want to just go back to the beginning. You've got to move on somewhere.

Gatiss will write the "Baskervilles" update, co-creator Steven Moffat will write the premiere "Bohemia", and Steve Thompson is writing "Final Problem", meaning no change to the series 1 lineup. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman will both return, as Freeman's commitment to The Hobbit has been factored into the scheduling. Sherlock isn't expected to return until later this year on BBC1.

What do you make of this news? Is it a wise decision to just remake the existing Sherlock Holmes stories, or were you hoping for more original plots?

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