Sherlock fans familiar with the waiting game between TV seasons may be encouraged that writer Steven Moffat says he can see it “going on for a long while” – and would not mind seeing a more mature Holmes and Watson.
Speaking to TV critics at a bi-annual panel in Beverly Hills, Moffat said he and co-executive producer Mark Gatiss were game to keep the present-day set adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective duo going.
“I don’t think it will be us that switch it off. I imagine it’ll be down to Benedict (Cumberbatch) and Martin (Freeman),” he said.
“Obviously we can’t do the show without them, and they’ve always said they’re happy to carry on so long as it’s good.”
And he added: “I’d like to see them age, not because I’m a sadist. Just because it would be interesting to see them become the more traditional age of those characters, which is in their 50s. They’re much younger than the normal version,” he said.
Production on new episodes is expected to begin next spring, but Cumberbatch and Freeman filmed a one-off episode set in the Victorian era rumoured to be shown at Christmas in the UK.
“We’ve never said it’s a Christmas special,” said Moffat’s wife and Sherlock producer Sue Vertue.
“It’s probably Christmas-ish,” added Moffat. “We don’t actually know. We’re not making this up.”
“I think we are working very hard on it to not frustrate the fans who know it’s on BBC and want to see it,” added PBS’ Masterpiece chief Rebecca Eaton.
What Moffat could say was that his leads enjoyed doing a period Sherlock, but one actor seemed to like it more.
“By the end, Martin was ready to go back to the more acerbic version, but I think Benedict really enjoyed being Victorian Holmes. He was saying halfway through, ‘Let’s always do this. I quite like it’,” he said.
They decided to jump back in time for an episode because “we checked the books and discovered we got it wrong,” joked Moffat. “We should have read them first. No, just because we can, really.”
Viewers should not expect an explanation for the time-jump. “We never bothered explaining what they were doing in modern London, so why bother explaining what they’re doing in Victorian London, when that’s where they’re supposed to be?” said Moffat.
Moffat also commented on the British government potentially removing public funding from the BBC.
“It staggers me that we have a government that got elected and decided the main problem with Britain is our national broadcaster. There must be something more important to do,” he said.