Sherlock special returns to Victorian England, is knowingly self-referential

It’s been a good while since fans of the BBC series Sherlock had anything to cheer about. It has, after all, been more than a year since the end of Season 3.

Small wonder then that the internet has erupted in a flurry of excitement at the launch of a trailer for the upcoming special.

This isn’t Sherlock as we know it though. Far from the contemporary reinterpretation that turned Benedict Cumberbatch into a household name, the special takes Holmes, Watson and all the regular cast members back to their Victorian roots.

And no that doesn’t mean show creator Steven Moffat has written an episode in which the cast travels through time (and it very definitely isn’t the Sherlock/Doctor Who mash-up Moffat fans have been yearning for).

Read more: Watch Benedict Cumberbatch have go at cracking the enigmatic Alan Turing

“The special is its own thing,” Mofat told Entertainment Weekly 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… It’s kind of in its own little bubble”.

One thing the special does retain though is the series’ habit of throwing nodding winks at both itself and Sherlock Holmes lore. Check it out: