BBC’s ‘Sherlock’: Much Anticipated Christmas Special To Hit The Silver Screen

Great news, Sherlock fans! You will no longer have to suffer the indignity of merely watching the Sherlock Christmas special on some two-bit TV screen. Now, you will be able to experience the full glory of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman on theater screens in select cities across the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. in early 2016.

The much, MUCH anticipated return of Sherlock comes in the form of this new, one-off, Victorian themed extravaganza designed for holiday viewing. The show, which only had its title and air times announced in the last few days, is titled ‘The Abominable Bride.” It will air on BBC television and PBS in the U.S. on January 1, 2016. It will then be shown for two nights in movie theaters on January 5 and 6. Tickets to see the event go on sale on November 6 in the U.S., and it will be shown in 500 theaters in that country.

The BBC has collaborated with Fathom Events to create this experience, and it will be the first time Sherlock will be shown on the big screen. The two companies have teamed up in the past to put the Doctor Who 50^th anniversary show into theaters in a similar fashion to tremendous success. Executive VP of BBC Worldwide is quoted in Entertainment Weekly discussing this leap to the theaters with the Sherlock special.

“We have a franchise that creates excitement for all the right reasons. Three years in a row we’ve taken Doctor Who out to theaters and it breaks records each time. Fans want to congregate and share Sherlock together.”

If the prospect of seeing the stars of Sherlock on the big screen isn’t enough to entice you to scoop up some tickets, the extra perks of theater attendance just might. Apparently, there will be an additional 20 minutes of material in the theatrical release that you won’t find in the televised version of the Sherlock special. This will include a set tour of the famous (or infamous) 221 Baker Street presented by show writer Steven Moffatt, and a short “making of” segment starring Watson and Sherlock themselves; Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The show itself promises to be an exciting, chilling, dark, and mysterious thriller. This, of course, is based on the trailer which was released, and then re-released on October 24 with an official title and an air-date. As many already know (the many that are dying to see the new Sherlock episode), this special takes Sherlock and Watson back in time to the 1890’s, when the original writer of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, set his tales.

Other than that, many of the details around the Sherlock episode have been sketchy, with just a few hints here and there used as a carrot on the end of a stick, dangling in front of the hungry eyes of the Sherlock fandom. The Den of Geek reports that at the London Comic-Con, show co-writer Mark Gatiss described the episode as an original story that was “inspired by a reference” in a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story (‘The Adventure Of Musgrave Ritual’ to be exact). Steven Moffat went on to give a tiny bit more info for Sherlock fans.

“There are loads and loads of details from the original stories, and there is a case referenced in the story about ‘Ricoletti with the club foot and his abominable wife’, so this is broadly speaking, that.”

Also exciting for Sherlock fans is the fact that, although shooting for the fourth season of Sherlock has yet to begin (scheduled for spring 2016), Steven Moffat has started outlining scripts for season five. So, after a two-year drought, Cumberbatch and Martin will soon be returning for eager and loving fans before a whole new wait for season 4 of Sherlock begins.

[Feature image from BBC]