Dreaming of a 221B Christmas… (Picture: Hartswood Films/BBC)

As the nights draw in, we wonder how a festive episode of Sherlock would work…

One of the more intriguing Sherlock rumours to pop up in the past couple of weeks was the apparent existence of a Christmas special, in addition to the rest of the upcoming third series.

While the rumour was inevitably completely false, and swiftly denied by both the BBC and producer Sue Vertue, the desire for a dedicated, festive themed installment is one that’s been around for quite a while.

Partly this is because Holmes has of course solved a Christmas themed crime in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories, focusing on the discovery of a precious jewel concealed within a goose bought for the dinner table.




The story famously ends with Holmes’ act of clemency against the perpetrator of the whole affair, surmising that arresting him for a relatively minor crime would only serve to harden him to commit worse activity in the future.

From that simple set up, it’s fun to try and work out how to make The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle work in the modern context of the BBC series, when statistical research has proven the petty crime rate grows noticeably over the Christmas period, and poultry is more usually bought frozen from supermarkets.

‘The Blue Carbuncle is a gorgeous story and I’m sure it would form the centre of a larger one very easily’ – Mark Gatiss

It is also clearly something that has occurred to the production team. Back in January 2012, we attended a press screening of The Hounds of Baskerville in Cardiff, and we put the idea of a Christmas special to Mark Gatiss.

Firstly, of course, is the issue of having the time to produce a dedicated episode like a Christmas special, in addition to the existing episodes in a commissioned series.

As Mark noted immediately, ‘When people ask if we’re going to do ten a year or something like that, unless someone’s got some new months between March and April, I don’t honestly think we could do more than three a year, or three every eighteen months.’

Gatiss continued, ‘We don’t have any plans for a one-off Christmas special, although The Blue Carbuncle is a gorgeous story and I’m sure it would form the centre of a larger one very easily and it would be lovely to do a Christmas one, one day.‘

So while a Christmas special currently seems unlikely, it’s something the production team would possibly like to do, depending on time and availability.

Of course, Christmas has already put in an appearance in Sherlock in A Scandal in Belgravia. Though as noted on the commentary that accompanies the episode on DVD and Blu Ray, Sherlock’s temperament apparently doesn’t sit well with the Christmas season, with Steven Moffat revealing that all the cards lining the fireplace and walls of the flat are actually addressed to John – aside from one, to Sherlock, from his mother…