Mark Gatiss warns Sherlock fans will need to wait until 2016 for series 4 (Picture: Getty)

Exclusive: Sherlock will be back as soon as the team can nail down the show’s busy stars, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, its scriptwriter says.

‘Everyone wants to carry on doing Sherlock. It’s a simple matter of schedules – particularly Benedict and Martin,’ Mark Gatiss told Metro.

‘They’ve become superstars, which is brilliant, but we all want to carry on as long as we can.

‘There was suddenly a kind of outraged response that it might not be back until 2016 but that’s precisely how long it always is. It’s always two years! But we’d like to return soon, of course.’


The success of Sherlock’s actors Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch will delay new episodes (Picture: BBC)

These days, 47-year-old Gatiss must compete for Cumberbatch’s time after the actor was voted the world’s sexiest movie star. Chatting about the 37-year-old’s growing sex appeal, Gatiss explained: ‘Sometimes the right man and the right part comes along and they fuse.



‘I think there is something about Sherlock Holmes, which has possibly always been the case – there’s a kind of unapproachability about him. He’s not interested in sex… apparently. So you immediately get that Mr Darcy thing going on.

‘He can’t be tamed. It’s attractive. Those are the people we are attracted to – the ones that aren’t interested.

‘I think it’s that and the combination of the Byronic looks that Benedict has – and the coat! – that’s made him into, possibly, the first sexy Sherlock Holmes.’

But speaking after his birthday speech at London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard’s 40th birthday party, supported by Channel 4 and RSH Audio Ltd, Gatiss added: ‘I can’t comment on him being the sexiest man in the world. You’d have to ask his mum!’

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