Sherlock type TV Show network PBS genre Crime

Hate waiting longer for new Sherlock than fans in the UK? Co-creator Steven Moffat most definitely agrees.

The BBC typically airs new Sherlock episodes weeks or even months before they run stateside on PBS Masterpiece. HBO announced earlier this month that Game of Thrones season 5 will premiere simultaneously in 130 countries this year. You would think Sherlock could premiere simultaneously in at least two, right? I pointed this out to Moffat and he had a strong opinion on the subject.

“I really, really do think it should,” he said. “I think it’s absolute bloody nonsense. The audience is not prepared to wait. [Somebody] recently said, ‘If I want something and it’s not available, I think it’s the vendor’s fault.’ With Doctor Who we pretty much have that — certainly with Britain and America, it comes out the same day. Doing that ended an awful lot of the piracy. Yes, it should be. But that’s a question for PBS Masterpiece.”

For the record, PBS Masterpiece says they are working to reduce the U.S. window and in fact did air season 3 faster than ever after the BBC. Such matters are typically not simply a matter of mere network preference, but rather companies having to honor the specific parameters of the distribution deals that are already in place. In this case, the BBC has had the “first window” on Sherlock.

In any case, there’s still a bit of wait for season 4 either way — it hasn’t been shot yet and isn’t expected until next year. But we are getting a one-off special, which Moffat recently revealed is set during the Victorian era.