David Tennant has been cast as Sherlock Holmes in CBS’s pilot for Elementary, a modern-day update of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories.

The drama sees Jonny Lee Miller play Holmes as he returns to New York and strikes up an unlikely alliance with a female version of Watson – played by Lucy Liu.

Tennant will play Holmes’s archenemy Moriarty and is expected to appear in at least two episodes of the show.

“We’re thrilled David Tennant will be joining us on Elementary,” said executive producers Robert Doherty, Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly. “We’ve been big fans of his work and cannot wait to see him in this iconic role.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, the character will be introduced in the pilot episode and then return later in the season.

Tennant played the lead role in Doctor Who for four years until 2010 and has also appeared in the film Fright Night and TV shows such as The Politician’s Husband.

David Tennant has been cast as the villain in the US drama Elementary, a modern-day version of Sherlock Holmes.

Tennant will play Moriarty, Sherlock’s nemesis, in the new CBS series, which stars Lucy Liu as Watson.

The part was originally offered to British actor Andrew Scott, who plays Moriarty in BBC One’s Sherlock.

CBS wanted to cast Scott but he could not take the role because of his commitments to Sherlock.

Jonny Lee Miller plays Holmes in Elementary, which is due to premiere on 25 September. The programme will air on Sky Living in the UK.

THE BBC is not the only broadcaster to be reimagining Sherlock Holmes for a 21st-century audience. CBS has just signed a deal with David Tennant, who played the tenth Doctor in “Doctor Who”, to star as Holmes in a new series, “Elementary”.

The show will be set in present-day New York, where Holmes, a recovering drug addict, has fled after falling out with his British police mentor. He meets up with Joan Watson (Lucy Liu), a former surgeon hired by his father to keep an eye on him as he attempts to get clean. The pair end up working together as “consultants” for the New York Police Department.

In a nice twist on Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories, Ms Watson is not Holmes’s love interest but his sober companion. It will be interesting to see how Mr Tennant interprets the role of the world’s most famous detective. Will he do a better job than Robert Downey Jr did in Guy Ritchie’s film version? And how will it compare with Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’s new BBC series?

Cumberbatch, who played the title role in Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’s BBC series Sherlock, will star as the famous detective opposite Martin Freeman, as his sidekick Dr Watson.

The casting of Tennant comes days after it was announced that Jonny Lee Miller will play Holmes in CBS’s Elementary. The drama is a modern-day take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories with Lucy Liu playing Dr Joan Watson, a female version of Watson.

David Tennant has been cast as Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis Moriarty in a US TV drama.

The former Doctor Who actor will play the villain in a modern-day version of Sherlock Holmes for US network CBS.

The drama, called Elementary, will star Jonny Lee Miller as the detective and Lucy Liu as his sidekick Watson.

It will air next season and is one of two Holmes dramas being developed by American networks.

The other, called Sherlock, is currently in production and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the famous sleuth.

The BBC and CBS are to compete in a battle of the Sherlocks with new TV adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth.

The BBC has already announced that it is reviving Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role and Martin Freeman as his sidekick Dr Watson.

Now US network CBS is launching its own version, Elementary, which will be set in New York and star British actor Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes.

The show will also feature Lucy Liu as Dr Joan Watson – a female version of Holmes’ sidekick.

The casting marks a return to US television for Miller, who shot to fame when he appeared alongside Angelina Jolie in the 1995 film Hackers. More recently he played the title role in Eli Stone.

The actor will star opposite David Tennant, who will play Holmes’ nemesis Moriarty in a forthcoming episode of BBC drama Doctor Who.

The former Doctor Who star, who most recently appeared in ITV’s Broadchurch, will portray Holmes’ nemesis Professor Moriarty in the second series of the show.

The programme, which stars Jonny Lee Miller as the famous detective and Lucy Liu as Watson, is set in New York City.

Tennant’s character, who has not yet been seen on screen, is expected to feature heavily in the second series following his mention by name in the first.

A number of British actors have appeared on Elementary since it was launched last year including Rhys Ifans, Natalie Dormer and Vinnie Jones.