It’s been over two years since the last series of Sherlock, with only a one-off special to keep fans going in the meantime.

However, filming on the fourth series in now finally underway – and it sounds like there won’t be too much longer to go until it’ll hit our screens.

Speaking on the Graham Norton show, Martin Freeman, who plays John Watson in the series, said that fans can expect the new episodes towards the end of the year.

“We are back filming now and the three shows will, I imagine, be out around Christmas,” he said.

Freeman also spoke about the amount of fans showing up on set – which isn’t always easy to manage.

“There is always a heightened state of excitement and we sometimes have to respectfully remind them that we have to be focused and it’s not a live gig!”

Appearing on the chat show ahead of his turn in Captain America: Civil War, Freeman also said that he will continue to star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

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and it's just as good as it ever was ITV 7/29 Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV 8/29 Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky 9/29 One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit 10/29 Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh 11/29 The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem 12/29 The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC 13/29 Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC 14/29 Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC 15/29 Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series 16/29 Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky 17/29 The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms 18/29 Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV 19/29 Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day 20/29 Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem 21/29 Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO 22/29 American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox 23/29 Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall 24/29 The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries 25/29 War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins 26/29 Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian 27/29 Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC 28/29 Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire 29/29 Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series

“I think my character will develop a bit more as I enter the Marvel world a bit more which seems to be happening,” he confirmed.

BBC One, Friday, 10.35pm