It's been two years since we saw "Sherlock" grace the small screen. Now, Sherlock Holmes is back for a one-off Christmas special, where we will see him and his pal Dr. Watson in a Victorian setting. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman recently sat down with the Indepent to talk about the Victorian special, entitled "The Abominable Bride," revealing they were not that initially invested about the episode's concept.
According to Cumberbatch, it was not an easy task to modernize Sherlock Holmes, so when Steve Moffat and Mark Gatiss presented him the Victorian concept, he said, “I went, 'You're mad.' I genuinely didn't understand how they were going to get away with it."
Cumberbatch, who also stars in "Doctor Strange," says that after a while, he realized that it was a "fun" idea and it will be "easier" to play Sherlock Holmes in a Victorian setting as his character fits well with the era.
“And then I got the more detailed pitch and I thought, 'OK, this is going to be great fun', And it really is." Cumberbatch said. "It's so nice to play him in his era. The things that are asked of me in the modern version, the sense that this is a man clearly slightly out of his time... to put him back in the era he was written in originally is just a joy. It feels easier."
Freeman, who also plays Bilbo Baggins in the "Hobbit" trilogy, was also unsure about the Victorian special because he needed to sport a mustache. “I'm going to try to rein in that in series four and not let Steven and Mark think this is an ongoing thing now, or I'll end up as Robinson Crusoe," says Freeman.
Meanwhile, a report from Daily Mail reveals that Sherlockians will have a hard time to crack one of the clues in the "Sherlock" Victorian special, except if you can read Chinese. In an interview with Radio Times, Moffat said, "It's a new story, but if you know the original stories, you'll see that it's fashioned out of quite a few others. As ever with us, we've chosen several and there are loads of references. One of them you have to be able to speak Chinese to get."
Daily Mail notes that "Sherlock" is actually banned in China, but the Chinese love the show that they stream it online. They even nicknamed Holme’s character as "Curly Fu" ("Fu" means Sherlock in Chinese) while Dr. Watson is called "Peanut" (Martin Freeman's Chinese translation is "Hua Sheng," which sounds like the Mandarin word for nut).
Are you excited for the "Sherlock" Victorian Christmas special? Catch it on Jan. 1 via BBC One. It will also be shown simultaneously in U.K cinemas, per the Independent.
