BBC Confirms 'Sherlock' is Back for Series 2!

Yesterday came the best news ever: BBC controller Jay Hunt announced the return of Sherlock for a second series of three 90-minutes episodes for next year. However, viewers will have to wait patiently until the Fall of 2011 to view the further adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

The series, strong of it's success both with critics and the public - the show averaged 7.2m viewers over the three Sherlock episodes: A Study in Pink, The Blind Banker and The Great Game) - recently ended it's run in the UK and will soon air here in North America starting October 24th on PBS Masterpiece Mystery.

Benedict Cumberbatch will return in the role of Sherlock Holmes, as will Martin Freeman in the role of his friend and colleague Dr. John Watson. Both actors were largely responsible for the success of the series due to their great on-screen chemistry.

Of series 2, co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss had this to say:

"We've been overwhelmed by the warmth of response to our new Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and can't wait to take them on three new adventures next year. There'll be baffling new puzzles, old friends and new enemies – whether on two, or four legs. And we might well be seeing the cold master of logic and reason unexpectedly falling. But in love? Or over a precipice? Who can tell?"

Already the mind is whirling with the possibilities - maybe Irene Adler will make an appearance in an episode? and the four-legged enemy may be foreshadowing a modern adaptation of The Hound of the Baskerville? All of this is very exciting conjecture.

Next year has never seemed so far away.

[BBC Press Office]