Holmes be back! Sherlock WILL return for a third series next year, BBC confirms



For almost ninety tense minutes Sherlock Holmes fans did not know whether he would live or die.



But now the BBC has confirmed the hit show will return next year after panic stricken viewers took to social networking sites demanding to know if the hit drama had been axed.



Audiences were left unsure if the cantankerous detective would return after he appeared to 'die' with his reputation in tatters in Sunday night’s show.



He'll be back: The BBC have confirmed that Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, will return for a new series next year



Fans watched arch-rival Moriarty destroy Holmes’ reputation and then force him to commit suicide to save his friends.



But in a twist, the show ended with him watching sidekick Dr Watson at his graveside, leaving fans to question if the show would return.



Show creator Steven Moffat had fuelled the uncertainty by posting cryptic messages ahead of broadcast.



He wrote: ‘What a melancholy day. A day for a great man to fall and a good man to cry. The end of an era begins at 9 o'clock tonight, BBC1.'



Cliffhanger: It had appeared that Holmes had died on Sunday night's episode, when Watson was seen standing by his graveside

He's still alive! But the closing shot of the episode saw Holmes watching Watson by his grave

Last week BBC controller of drama Ben Stephenson refused to confirm if the show would return – insisting no comment would be made until after Sunday night’s programme.



After Sunday night’s programme, which pulled in 7.9 million viewers, many demanded reassurance that the programme would return.



Close to the mark: The show caused controversy with its pre-watershed nudity



Mr Moffat then told fans: 'Yes of course there's going to be a third series - it was commissioned at the same time as the second. Gotcha!'

The BBC’s adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic stories, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead and The Office star Martin Freeman, has proved a hit for the broadcaster.

Sunday night's episode was called The Reichenbach Fall in a nod to Conan Doyle's 1893 story The Final Problem, which ended with

Holmes and Moriarty apparently falling to their deaths at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.



Conan Doyle later resurrected his hero and it seems the corporation has followed that format.



This series of Sherlock Holmes has also caused controversy with some viewers complaining that it featured scenes of nudity before the watershed.

Around 100 viewers complained but Mr Stephenson has defended the move insisting it was right for the style of programme, even though it has a family audience.

