BSkyB has acquired the UK rights to a clutch of new American dramas from the upcoming 2012-13 US season, adding Arrow, Elementary, The Following and Vegas to its line-up.
Arrow, from The CW, reinvents the DC Comics hero Green Arrow. Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen, a billionaire who returns home after five years shipwrecked on a remote island and takes to the streets as a hooded vigilante archer. The series will air on Sky1.
Elementary, a CBS take on Sherlock Holmes, relocates the detective to present-day New York. Jonny Lee Miller plays Holmes, a recovering addict, with Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson, the sober companion who becomes his partner in solving crimes. It has gone to Sky Living.
Heading to Sky Atlantic are two more. The Following, from Scream creator Kevin Williamson, stars Kevin Bacon as a former FBI agent drawn back into the hunt for an escaped serial killer who has built a cult of devoted followers. Vegas, meanwhile, casts Dennis Quaid as a rancher turned sheriff bringing order to 1960s Las Vegas, with Michael Chiklis as the mobster muscling in on the city.