News Reel & Blog

Sherlock and the Long Wait

Written by James Cheetham on 2nd July 2014

Today saw the announcement that the BBC’s Sherlock will be returning to our screens with another 3 episode run and a Christmas special!

The bad news….not until 2015. The special will begin filming in January 2015, and the next series will shoot later that year. So does that mean we wont see new Sherlock until Christmas 2015…?

Just a tiny wait then…

It’s hardly the usual route that a ratings magnet goes down, and while the busy schedules of the cast and crew is an obvious factor for this, is it something other show runners should be considering?

Sherlock became a hit instantly, and continued to propel its ratings upward with the second and third series’, despite a big lag in time between them. Regardless, it only seemed to add to the social media frenzy that took a hold and the added time meant plenty of others who missed the original broadcasts could easily catch up on the small episode runs.

Sites such as twitter, tumblr and buzzfeed are inundated with posts and gifs of fans blasting their fandom opinions and Sherlock references across the web.

While it’s clear the talented actors, show runners and script writers are the reason behind such a passionate fan following, could other TV programmes take note and lead fans down the rabbit hole, and then keep them waiting for longer than the standardised TV seasonal schedule?

While not exactly in need of creating more buzz, can you imagine the fan reaction to a Game of Thrones finale if the audience found out they actually had two years until the next Westeros on-slaught? Might get some more to actually pick up the books at least…

The repeated yearly series of programmes is something that American television follows more rigidly than the UK, and they also steer clear of the Sherlock format of hour and half long episodes in sets of 3 (now to be 4.) It’s another one of Sherlock’s TV defying formats that isn’t reflected elsewhere, and again, would other programmes benefit from this set up?

Do you think certain television shows could benefit from a longer pause between series and therefore strum up a much larger buzz once returned to screens? Or does Sherlock’s announcement at its 2015 (possibly 2016) return just fill you with impatient Sherlock rage?

Sherlock and the Long Wait

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