Earlier this month, Sherlock Holmes actor Benedict Cumberbatch revealed that he wasn’t overly confident about the future of BBC’s Sherlock due to the busy work schedules of the main cast.
Now, in an interview with Collider, Cumberbatch’s co-star Martin Freeman, who played Dr John Watson, discussed his thoughts on the possibility of a fifth series as well as expanding upon Cumberbatch’s suggestion that there could be a Sherlock movie instead.
“Yeah, I think it is possible. It might be more likely, yeah. I think we’ve all left it so that it’s not a full stop, it’s just a big ellipsis or a big pause. Maybe it’s because we don’t want to say, ‘Oh, it’s a full stop.’ I’m not sure. To be honest, I’m a big believer in not going past your sell-by date, in anything, really. Don’t outstay your welcome. So, I suppose we would have to see if we have outstayed our welcome when the time comes and whether people have moved on to something else. So, I don’t know. I really liked doing it. I’m very proud of the show. It’s one of the best-written things I’ve done. It’s one of the best-directed things I’ve done. I really enjoy doing it, but I don’t know. It’s been a while now. It’s four years since a new one was on. So, yeah, maybe the more likely thing is a one-off.”
Sherlock, which started back in 2010 on the BBC, ran for four series as well as a one-off 2016 special, titled ‘The Abominable Bride‘. The show saw Holmes and Watson go head-to-head with a variety of foes, most notably Sherlock’s arch-nemesis Jim Moriarty, played to perfection by Andrew Scott (His Dark Materials, Spectre).
