'Sherlock' Leak: Employee "Non-Maliciously Broke" Security Protocols, Russia's Channel One Says

When the Benedict Cumberbatch-Martin Freeman adaptation returns on New Year's Day, it will be three years since the last series was released. (And one year since the Victorian-era Christmas special but who's counting?) Thankfully, the three new 90-minute installments come packed with new bad guys (Toby Jones), new babies (Watson's going to be a dad) and even a new sidekick for our favorite detective in the form of a dog.

The network speaks of a "gross dereliction of duty" and says content security has been "completely revised."

Russia's Channel One has blamed the leak of the Russian-language version of the final episode of season four for BBC hit show Sherlock on one of its employees who "non-maliciously broke" the company's security procedures.

"We regret to confirm that one of our employees non-maliciously broke our strict security protocols," Channel One said in a statement Friday. "As a result of this gross dereliction of duty, the file leaked online.

The Russian broadcaster added: "We would like to reassure our partners and viewers, that as a result of this incident, we have completely revised our content security procedures to ensure that this does not happen again and we apologize to Hartswood Films, BBC Worldwide and Sherlock fans everywhere who have been impacted by this leak."

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, said: "Further to Channel One's findings that this was an isolated non-intentional content security lapse on the part of an employee, BBC Worldwide welcomes their reassurances that they will be tightening security procedures to eliminate any similar future risks, and we will work closely with them to ensure this happens."

The Russian version of Sherlock' episode The Final Problem, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, was aired on Channel One this Sunday, one minute behind the airing on the BBC. However, its pirated copy was available online a day before that.

Earlier this week, Russia's communications watchdog Roskomnadzor demanded that all pirated versions of the episode be taken down.

"We have a court decision and have sent hosting providers a demand to delete the illegal content," a spokesman for Roskomnadzor was quoted as saying by the news agency TASS.

Under Russian law, a provider has three days to delete illegal content.