Sherlock, which airs on PBS in the U.S., returned to San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday for its second appearance. Hypable had the chance to talk to the show’s team about what to expect next.

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Producer Sue Vertue and co-star Rupert Graves (who plays DI Lestrade) spoke with Hypable ahead of their Sherlock panel. Though Vertue and Graves will be grilled by fans later today, we had a chance to ask some questions of our own.

When asked to tease the upcoming Sherlock Victorian-era special in three words, the pair told us this: “Ghosts, detailed, and twisty.” Hmmm.

Graves loved exploring the new Victorian 1895 timeline and making the appropriate adjustments for his character. For starters, image-wise, Lestrade will be sporting a full-on set of mutton-chop sideburns.

The period is really one where Lestrade is actually closer in methodology to Holmes — It’s all down to research, brainpower, and deduction. As Graves explained to Hypable, “I’m playing a proper Victorian copper. The ‘copper-iness’ was so much more rudimentary then. There’s no forensic methodology.”

“I’m all writing in my book,” he said of what he had to do in the scenes as a rudimentary cop. “I’m constantly writing everything down.”

Graves sees working in this Victorian setting as a fun, bold challenge. “It’s that transposition of taking everything we’ve created and to do something as bold as to make a Victorian story modern, and then to go transpose that back again so its more traditional. It’s the prism of looking through the story that we know in a new way.”

As for his most favorite character interaction, Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade have a fully developed scene together that Graves is very excited about. He couldn’t reveal too much other than to say it was “great fun.” In the past they’ve had one or two lines together, but this will be a complete scene.

Vertue echoed Graves’ enthusiasm for the period. She particularly loved the details of the set. Sherlock’s flat has items that tie in the old and the new. For example, the iconic headphones on the skull actually will have a surprise Victorian parallel. There are also some items that reflect classic Sherlock Holmes’ stories such as The Speckled Band.

Vertue loved the costuming. “John’s (Dr. Watson) got some stunning suits,” she said. “The two boys (Freeman and Cumberbatch) look amazing in their suits.”

Then there is the matter of the Doctor Watson mustache. When we suggested that it was large enough that it could have its own post code, Vertue agreed and laughed, making a mustache gesture with her finger, “It’s really an extraordinary thing isn’t it, Martin can quite carry it off.”

The new time period did present new opportunities, but also some challenges. According to Vertue, it was actually hard to decide where to film because so many Victorian London locations are still around today, and even in present day they’re appropriate to the period, “I kept looking around and saying, ‘we could shoot there, and there, and there.'”

On the other hand, outfitting and costuming all the background extras was very time consuming. Usually, extras can show up and wear what they have on, but not in this case. Nonetheless it was a very rewarding process and Vertue was not turned off by the extra work.

There is no air date yet set for the new series on PBS, but the U.K. will have the Victorian special in time for Christmas.

What do you think of these new ‘Sherlock’ Victorian-era special tidbits?