Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat has described the show's new villain Charles Augustus Magnussen as "utterly terrifying".

Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen stars in Sunday night's episode 'His Last Vow' as Magnussen, a character based on Conan Doyle's 'master blackmailer' Charles Augustus Milverton.

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"We had a notion that maybe he might be American and at that point we kept the original name," Moffat explained last night (January 8) at a BAFTA screening of the third series finale.

"It was actually [producer] Sue [Vertue] who originally suggested that we have a look at Lars. I then went onto a website and looked up all the Danish names that sounded a bit like 'Milverton' and came up with Magnussen!"

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Moffat added that Sherlock "has such an act to follow" in replacing Andrew Scott's Moriarty - the chief villain of the first two series.

"We needed an utterly terrifying villain and Lars just scares the crap out of you the moment he shows up!" said the writer.

'His Last Vow' airs on BBC One on Sunday, January 12 at 8.30pm.

Sherlock: Complete Series Three and the Sherlock Series 1-3 Box Set are available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray from January 20.

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Watch a trailer for Sherlock 'His Last Vow' below:

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