Sherlock series 3 didn’t just set the ratings alight in the UK. As it continues its roll-out around the world, it’s having a similar effect. In the US, it’s now started to high ratings. And we hear that the response in China too has been huge. Sherlock isn’t just a UK television ratings hit: it’s a major worldwide one.

Entertainment Weekly has given the cover of its latest issue over to the show, and it chatted to Steven Moffat as part of its feature. As part and parcel of that, the question of a possible Sherlock movie raised its proverbial head.

Moffat declared that “we don’t rule anything out” when asked about a film, but went on to say that “there’s something quite special about the fact that it’s on television starring those two”. Those two being Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman of course, both of whom have subsequently been landing major roles in movie movies. “Mark [Gatiss] and I sometimes imagine what would happen if we had written it now and were saying ‘we’d like Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman for the parts”‘.

This has been taken, with some justification, as Moffat holding the door open to a movie take on Sherlock. But then don’t go holding your breath, as at a Q&A following the original screening of His Last Vow, he seemed less enamoured with the idea.