Sherlock Series 3 Premiere Date Has Been Revealed

It has been announced that the popular British show Sherlock will be premiering on PBS Masterpiece for American Sherlockians on January 19, 2014, at 10pm.

The show’s series three premiere will, for the first time, be paired on PBS with Downton Abbey; namely, that show’s third episode of its fourth series. Downton Abbey‘s fourth series is currently airing on ITV in the UK, but will not premiere on PBS in the United States until January 5, 2014.

This long-awaited announcement of Sherlock’s premiere date in the States has actually come along, even as no news has surfaced of what the show’s UK premiere date will be. The show’s titular star, Benedict Cumberbatch, had expressed an interest in having the show’s third series broadcast simultaneously in the UK and the US-as is the case with Doctor Who-but there was never any mention of whether he was successful in that pursuit. We’ll all cross our fingers that the show will be simulcast, because that really does add to the fun.

By all accounts, this series of Sherlock is the show’s best yet. Considering how great the first two series have been, that seems like a lofty claim, but it wouldn’t be a shocker. Coming off the disappointing reception of The Fifth Estate, Benedict Cumberbatch returns as the legendary character Sherlock Holmes; Martin Freeman returns as Holmes’ hetero-lifemate Dr. John Watson. If January 19th seems like a long time to wait for your fix of these two great actors, don’t worry; you can see Cumberbatch on December 25th in August: Osage County, you can hear Freeman on November 12th in the animated film Saving Santa, and you can of course catch both Cumberbatch and Freeman in the second chapter of The Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. As you can see, that’s the busy schedule the actors had to deal with, which delayed the filming of Sherlock‘s third series.