For "Sherlock" fans, who are dying to see Benedict Cumberbatch play detective Sherlock Holmes again, two years is quite a long time to wait. However, the recent announcement about a Victorian-themed Christmas special has made Sherlockians giddy to see the famous detective. Now, series producer and writer Steven Moffat spills more details on what to expect in "The Abominable Bride."
In an interview with Radio Times, Moffat disclosed the secrets of the Victorian special and how they came up with the idea. First off, Moffat told the news outlet that they would have fun and “more than that” in the special.
"We couldn’t sustain 90 minutes on just having a bit of fun. Our ambition was that, explicitly, the first 15/20 minutes is the fun of seeing our version of Sherlock Holmes transposed back to its original setting. Then we’ve got to get on with the story," he shared. "It’s a proper scary mystery. I think it’s quite a good mystery with quite a good solution, but there’s also the ongoing tension between the version of the characters we developed to accommodate the modern setting now sitting in Victorian times. There’s quite a lot to be said about each of the characters and how they survive that time travel.”
However, even though Holmes and Dr. Watson would be back in the "right year" where their characters originated, Moffat revealed that "The Abominable Bride" was not based on a particular story by Arthur Conan Doyle.
"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," he revealed.
In a previous interview with the Independent, "Sherlock's" lead actors Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman disclosed that at first, they were not convinced on the Victorian concept. According to Cumberbatch, modernizing a man like Sherlock was not an easy task, and when he learned about Sherlock Holmes going back to an older era, he said, "I went, 'You're mad.' I genuinely didn't understand how they were going to get away with it."
However, upon learning more details, he believes that the "Sherlock" Victorian special "is going to be great fun." Meanwhile, Freeman's concern was him donning a bushy mustache.
In the Radio Times interview, when Moffat was asked if it will all be the same cast, Moffat teased, "You’ll have to wait and see who’s in it. Not everyone makes the transition of the years."
Will Sherlock Holmes’s transition to the Victorian era a success? Catch "The Abominable Bride" on Jan. 1, 2016 on BBC One and select theaters.
