Sherlock type TV Show network PBS genre Crime

Sherlock is coming to the big screen.

The BBC / PBS Masterpiece cult favorite is going to get a theatrical release for the first time.

The show’s upcoming Victorian-era special, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, will receive a limited roll-out in U.S. and U.K. movie theaters when it premieres next January.

Bonus: The theatrical version of the episode will include 20 minutes of additional footage, including a guided set tour of 221B Baker Street with executive producer Steven Moffat, plus a short “making-of” with stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

Given the big-screen appeal of stars Cumberbatch (Star Trek: Into Darkness) and Freeman (The Hobbit), doing a theatrical launch of Sherlock makes perfect sense, and previously the BBC tested such a roll-out with another cult-favorite series produced by Moffat, Doctor Who.

“We have a franchise that creates excitement for all the right reasons,” said BBC Worldwide executive vp Soumya Sriraman. “Three years in a row we’ve taken Doctor Who out to theaters and it breaks records each time. Fans want to congregate and share Sherlock together.”

On Saturday the companies announced the long-awaited television premiere date for the episode: Jan. 1. For the first time ever, the show will debut in the U.S. and the U.K. on the same date. Then the movie will be in theaters for two days, on Tuesday, Jan. 5 and Wednesday, Jan. 6. A new Sherlock trailer, below, was also unveiled.

PBS Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton expressed confidence that Sherlock fans would flock to the theater even with the series coming out on TV first. “Sherlock fans just can’t get enough of the show in any way, shape or form,” she noted. “Offering the show on lots of platforms makes it more of an event; good buzz raises all boats.”

Tickets for Sherlock: The Abominable Bride will be available beginning on Nov. 6, and can be purchased online at http://www.FathomEvents.com, or participating theater box offices. The special theatrical event is expected to play in over 500 theaters across the U.S.

Here’s the latest trailer. Sriraman teased the special/movie will deliver on fan expectations: “I went cautiously into this Victorian [storyline] and I was wondering how it was all going to play out. I was like, ‘Wow!'”