Sherlock season four won’t premiere until next year—waiting for this show is the worst—so to tide us over the BBC and Masterpiece Theater are giving us a Christmas special this December, for which we now have a trailer. Christmas specials aren’t really a thing in the US anymore—unless you count the inevitable Singer From Network Competition Show Holiday Extravaganza Night—because the Star Wars Holiday Special pretty much ruined it for everyone, but it seems like special holiday one-off episodes are still a thing in Britain. For which I’m thankful, because the Sherlock special is set in the Victorian era, the natural milieu of Sherlock Holmes.
The trailer is hilariously over the top, complete with BRAAAMs and self-important dialogue, but there’s also a glimpse of a scene that might be some kind of Victorian sex ritual? There are people in robes and odd headgear in a dungeony kind of room—I’m just going to go ahead and assume, for now, that it’s a Victorian sex ritual. Those people were PERVERSE. There’s also ladies in poofy dresses running in topiary mazes, and Cumberbatch looks great in a top hat, and the whole thing looks pretty Gothic. I don’t think this will appeal much beyond the established fanbase, but as a fan of Sherlock, I’m pretty into it (especially if there’s a Victorian sex ritual). I’m curious to see how Benedict Cumberbatch’s thoroughly modern Sherlock translates to olden times.
Also attached - Benedict with Sophie Hunter at London Fashion Week last month.
