Sherlock fans already know that it's going to be a while before the BBC crime drama returns – but it's now emerged they could be in for the longest wait yet.

The fourth series aired in January 2017, three years after series three in 2014, although there was a 2016 Christmas special in between.

Given co-creator Steven Moffat is now suggesting it's time for a "longer gap", does that mean it could be beyond 2020 before Sherlock and co return with a full series? Look, we're just speculating.

Related: Sherlock season 5 – Everything you need to know

Here's what Moffat said exactly in a new interview with Radio Times:

"Nobody has ever closed the door on Sherlock – we just say the same thing all the time and it gets quoted different ways.

"We haven't got an immediate plan, but I would remain surprised, given the collective enthusiasm we have for it, if we didn't do it again.

"When, I don't know. I think maybe the time for a longer gap is upon us, I don't know. A longer gap? They're always long gaps!"

Co-creator Mark Gatiss added that these days, he and Moffat are all about working on their new series Dracula.

Eamonn M. McCormack / Getty Images

"We're doing Dracula, which is going to take two years at least," explained Gatiss.

"We're not going to do Sherlock whilst we're doing Dracula. So it's not going to happen in the immediate future. Never say never, but no – we don't have an idea [right now]."

Still, if you're starting to wonder whether Sherlock will ever actually come back, don't fear – Moffat teased there's a lot more where that came from.

"I could see us making more Sherlocks," he said. "I could see us making Sherlocks way in the future.

"It's not the kind of show that has to come back all the time. It can revisit. Every time Sherlock comes back, it's a reunion show."

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