Sherlock Season 4

The season 4 won't be till 2016 but there will be a special set in Victorian times.

It's rumored air around Christmas

 

Looks like a lot of fun.

 

We have a clip!

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEVgqykJjrg[/yt]

We can date this to very late in Holmes and Watson's career. The reference to the publication of Hound of the Baskervilles places it after April 1902, so I'm assuming this is Christmas 1902, as by Christmas 1903 Holmes had retired to Sussex to take up beekeeping (as in Ian McKellen's forthcoming Mr Holmes).

 

Oh, MAN. I can't wait to see this!

 

Cumberbatch really looks the part perfectly in the traditional holmes outfit.

 

I'm really excited for the special. Cumberbatch seems to be great no matter what era of Sherlok Holmes he's playing.

 

Yeah, it doesn't strike me that they're too concerned with historical or textual authenticity (considering that Holmes is in the deerstalker and has the stereotypical pipe). And as I would've expected from Sherlock, the writing is pretty much a succession of fannish in-jokes and self-referential snark.

Although I did appreciate it that the opening shot was pretty much an homage to the Jeremy Brett title sequence.

 

It's going to have a theatrical screening.

 

That's awesome! I suggested that to a BBC Worldwide executive after the "Day of the Doctor" screening, that they should try out another franchise with a devoted fanbase, like Sherlock, and see if they get similar -- or better -- results. I'm sure my suggestion had no bearing here and they came up with the idea independently, but it's still pretty cool.

 

It's going to be bloody brilliant.

Though, I've read that season 4 might not come 'till 2017.

 

The plan right now, as I understand it from recent Moffat quotes, is to film Series 4 in the spring of 2016. If so, I'd expect Series 4 to air around New Year's 2017.

This isn't really a surprise. It was clear from Cumberbatch's other projects that he wasn't going to be available to film Series 4 this year.

 

I'm already squeeing in delight. I can't wait!

 

Yeah, I liked that too.

 

So I guess they're dropping Moriarty's "Miss me?" cliffhanger from the last series?

 

More like skipping it until Series 4 proper for this side-story.

 

Oh god, is Moriarty back? I watched Sherlock Series 3, but my intense hatred for Sherlock's version of Moriarty might have made me suppress that memory. That definitely deflates my excitement for series 4. Moriarty is the one place Sherlock completely and totally screwed up. I really hope he doesn't end up being the overall threat in Series 4.

 

I gave the matter some thought and formulated a different hypothesis entirely.

Perhaps Watson's publication dates of his stories are not identical with the Doyle, the Literary Agent's publication. A Study in Scarlet claims to be a reprint of a previously existing publication ("Being a reprint..."). Perhaps more of Watson's work than just STUD was published privately or in minor journals and then resold to a wider audience by the Literary Agent. If so, then we could have Holmes, Watson, and Mrs. Hudson discuss The Hound of the Baskervilles as a published work several years in advance of the Literary Agent's sale and this Christmas special wouldn't necessarily have to be set in the twilight of Holmes' Baker Street career.

 

It looks like either Sherlock or Watson has suffered some kind of trauma, and this is just a delusion they're having.

 

I remember when they were filming this in Bath back in February. They had dressed the area to look turn of the last century with green post boxes.

 

Well, that's clever, but I doubt the special will live up to that level of reconciliation. According to Tor.com's report on the SDCC Sherlock panel, "Sue Vertue went along to say that the special is still very much their show, their world, even if it is over a century earlier." Meaning it'll have modern snark and sensibilities, and Moffat and Gatiss's distinctive, exaggerated versions of the characters. This is not going to be Doyle's Holmes and Watson, it's going to be M&G's Sherlock and John transposed to the Victorian era.

Although I suppose maybe the idea is that this is the "reality" of Holmes and Watson and that the published stories we have are Watson's toned-down accounts.