When screenwriter Steven Moffat launched his reboot of Sherlock, it came with inevitable questions connected to the character's long literary and cinematic lineage. How will Sherlock Holmes fit into contemporary society? How will they treat Watson? How will they tell the story of the Hound of the Baskervilles?

"What we were doing all the time was saying Sherlock Holmes does work, even though he's got an iPhone. Basically the question was, how can Sherlock Holmes work in the world where he has an iPhone?" Moffat says.

Elementary: Benedict Cumberbatch (left) and Martin Freeman in Sherlock.

"Then, within seconds of the show going out, [and] I mean seconds, by the time we were promoting episode two people had so gotten used to the idea that it was updated that it's never really been raised again. It just disappeared and it became its own thing. Hopefully that meant that [co-producer Mark Gatiss] and I were right when we said the period setting isn't that important."

Now, in an unusual twist, collaborators Moffat and producer/writer Gatiss have delivered a Sherlock special, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, which is set in Victorian England. "Of course ... what's the first question we get? No kidding, it was how can Sherlock Holmes survive without his iPhone?" He says: "There is some precedent for that."