Last November, BBC released an image of Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in Victorian era clothing to promote the upcoming Sherlock Christmas special. At the time, the standalone special was rumored to take place in Victorian London, the same era in which Sr. Arthur Conan Doyle created them.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly at SXSW, Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat confirmed the speculation about the Sherlock Christmas special. “The special is its own thing,” explained Moffat. “We wouldn’t have done the story we’re doing, and the way we’re doing it, if we didn’t have this special. It’s not part of the run of three episodes. So we had this to do it – as we could hardly conceal – it’s Victorian. [Co-creator Mark Gatiss] and me, we wanted to do this, but it had to be a special, it had to be separate entity on its own. It’s kind of in its own little bubble.”
Related: See Ian McKellen As Old Sherlock In ‘Mr. Holmes’
Cumberbatch was recently photographed on the set of the Sherlock special wearing the iconic deerstalker hat that has become an iconic Sherlock Holmes image.
The Sherlock Christmas Special will premiere later this year on BBC, with an American debut on PBS some time after that. Sherlock Season 4 is expected to follow at some point in 2016.
