Sherlock - Series 3

The new series of Sherlock, the modernised version of Arthur Conan Doyle's detective, is set up air in Britain in roughly October next year. Filming was delayed because primarily because the televison series' two main stars, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, were busy filming The Hobbit.

There are to be three episodes in the series and the first episode is going to be the conclusion to the cliffhanger ending of The Reichenbach Fall. Co-creater Mark Gatiss, who will be writing the episode, said that it would be 'loosely based' on Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Emtpy House, so expect an explanation for Holmes' supposed suicide and possibly a failed assassination of Holmes. Gatiss and the other co-creator, Steven Moffat, released a word for each coming episode and 'rat' is for the first. This could relate to a number of Conan Doyle's stories such as The Giant Rat of Sumatra, The Boscombe Valley Mystery and any featuring the "rat-faced" Inspector Lestrade.

The second episode's word is 'wedding' and this probably refers to the wedding of John and his beloved, though many are hoping for a Holmes and Watson combination. Steven Moffat, who will be writing the episode, will probably not succumb to any Johnlock. No story of Conan Doyle's actually features John's wedding though he does propose in The Sign of Four.

The final episode in the series will be written by Steve Thompson, who also wrote The Reichenbach Fall. A bigger cliffhanger than the series two heartstopper is promised in this episode. The clue is 'bow' and it has a lot of Sherlock fans worried. They think it might refer to the story His Last Bow, in which Holmes retires after tracking down a German spy called Von Bork. However, it is unlikely that a show as popular as Sherlock will be shut down after only nine episodes. Then again, Moffat is not shy about shocking his audience, like when he dramatically killed off Doctor Who's companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams with Weeping Angels.