Sherlock star ends speculation BBC series will return for season 5

Sherlock star Mark Gatiss has said the show will not be returning, ending years of speculation.

The BBC series, based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, premiered in 2010, making a household name of Benedict Cumberbatch, who played the eponymous detective opposite Martin Freeman’s Doctor Watson.

Sherlock’s last series – its fourth – aired in January 2017, and ever since there have been claims that the show’s creative team wanted to reunite Cumberbatch and Freeman for a run of new episodes.

But Gatiss, who wrote the show and also appeared as Sherlock’s elder brother Mycroft, has brushed off any chance of reviving the BBC ratings winner, asking: “What would be the point?”

“We had our go, and we struck gold with Benedict and Martin,” he told Collider.

“I mean, what would be the point? You’d just be doing it again. And to be frank, you know, I’m 60 next year. It’s incredible. And how many more things can one do?”

Gatiss said he is instead “committed” to his new project Bookish, a six-part drama following a bookseller-turned-sleuth, who uses his literary knowledge to solve crimes.

Although Sherlock only ran for 13 episodes across four series, it received critical acclaim and garnered several award nominations and wins, including acting Emmys for both Cumberbatch and Freeman, and a writing Emmy for showrunner Steven Moffat.

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Gatiss said of Sherlock’s enduring global success: “I think it’s great to tip your hat to what a wonderful thing it was, but also it’s lovely to move forward.”

Moffat said in 2024 that he would revive the show “tomorrow” as he believes the format “won’t wear out”.

However, he said the “problem” impeding Sherlock’s revival is “getting the two big stars” back together.

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While Freeman’s profile has risen dramatically since starring in the show, he also said in 2018 that shooting the series was “not fun anymore” due to the expectations of fans and critics.

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“It’s not a thing to be enjoyed,” he said at the time. “It’s a thing of, ‘You better f***ing do this, otherwise, you’re a c***.’ That’s not fun anymore.”

Cumberbatch hit back at his co-star’s comments, stating: “It’s pretty pathetic if that’s all it takes to let you not want to take a grip of your reality. What, because of expectations? I don’t know. I don’t necessarily agree with that.”