Lucy Liu helmed May 1 episode of 'Elementary'

NEW YORK, April 18 (UPI) -- U.S. actress Lucy Liu will make her small-screen directorial debut with an upcoming episode of her popular TV detective series, Elementary, CBS announced. The Season 2 penultimate installment will air May 1. Liu previously helmed the 2011 film, Meena.

Elementary is a contemporary, New York-set re-imagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 19th-century tales about brilliant British sleuth Sherlock Holmes. The show stars London-born actor Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes and Liu as his partner in crime-solving, Joan Watson.

Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, who plays the show's recurring character Mycroft -- Sherlock's brother -- also returned for the episode.

"Business becomes personal for Sherlock when he is forced to partner with his estranged brother, Mycroft, to solve a case with life-or-death consequences," a synopsis of the episode said.

CBS recently announced it renewed the series for a third season.