For better or worse, you are probably right. My choice would be for a series of Charlie Chan adventures (all six by Earl Derr Biggers)to be produced by the British as was done so well with Poirot. Hollywood would certainly opt for violent action, language, and adult situations. This would be an "updated" version of "Charlie Chan." Lucy Liu had similar plans for Charlie Chan several years ago, but this never happened in the end.
She probably got the call to play Holmes' Watson at the time. Maybe there was some kinda conflict of interest, or she just saw that as a better gig. I really like Rush's comments on a BBC series, like the Poirot or the Elizabeth George Inspector Lynley series. Could be a very big hit!