After teasing us with at least two trailers that simply ended with “Coming Soon”, Team Sherlock has taken pity on the fans by announcing that the new special – now called The Abominable Bride – will arrive, as we might have been able to deduce, on January 1. To mark the occasion, the most recent trailer has been updated with the title and date.
Set apart from the continuity of the main show, the episode will be a stand-alone story in the 19th century with our heroes (played as usual by Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman) investigating a seemingly impossible case. Well, impossible for other people. The likes of Rupert Graves, Louise Brealey, Jonathan Aris, Amanda Abbington and Una Stubbs will all be around, but given Victorian twists.
“The special is its own thing,” Moffat told EW back in March. “We wouldn’t have done the story we’re doing, and the way we’re doing it, if we didn’t have this special. It’s not part of the run of three episodes. So we had this to do it – as we could hardly conceal – it’s Victorian. Mark Gatiss and me, we wanted to do this, but it had to be a special, it had to be separate entity on its own. It’s kind of in its own little bubble."
US audiences will be happy to learn that the special is day and date, so there won’t be the usual long wait and taunting Tumblr .gif torrent to deal with.