ALLAN

[17.19 - French Time] Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports exclusively that Robert Cochran (24) is developing Pinkerton, a 8-10-hour limited series for Starz about the famous detective and spy, with actor Gerard Butler on board to executive produce.

American premium channel Starz has commissioned a pilot script and a "bible" for a fictionalized project centered around Allan Pinkerton (1819-1894), creator of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency - the first detective agency in the United States.

Scottish-born Pinkerton emigrated to the US at age 23. He served as head of the Union Intelligence Service, the forerunner of the US Secret Service. As such, he guarded Abraham Lincoln on his way to his inauguration and foiled an assassination attempt on him in Baltimore.

Funnily, soon after the success of Steven Moffat's Sherlock your humble servant joked on Twitter that someone in L.A. or London was asking himself if the rights of Nick Carter (the 19th century detective, not the singer) were available.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/starz-develops-allan-pinkerton-limited-series-with-bob-cochran-gerard-butler/