Amanda Abbington responded to backlash against The Abominable Bride (Picture: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock)

Amanda Abbington has defended Sherlock against accusations of ‘sexism’ again.

The New Year’s Day episode The Abominable Bride was slammed by viewers on Twitter for its portrayal of Suffragettes.

Many also felt that Benedict Cumberbatch’s high-functioning sociopath ‘mansplained’ feminism in a scene which saw Sherlock explaining the Suffragettes’ motivations.

At the time Amanda tweeted that the tone of the episode made sense as Sherlock is ‘a man who doesn’t understand women’.


Amanda plays John Watsons wife Mary (Picture: BBC)

On This Morning she came to the show’s defence once again, saying she didn’t know where the backlash came from.

When asked what she thought of the accusation she replied: ‘I didn’t understand. It was all set inside Sherlock’s head and as we know Sherlock doesn’t really like women that much, he doesn’t really understand women.’

The episode was accused of ‘mansplaining’ feminism (Picture: BBC)

She went on: ‘They touched on Suffragettes, as it was still in the early stages, we touched upon that.



‘All the women in it are really strong and I didn’t really understand the point of that but it was a story and I think if you’re telling a story about two men – it’s called Sherlock – so it’s going to be about the two men in it.

‘The women in it including Lou Brearley, it didn’t even register that we were doing anything that was sexist.’

Amanda defended the show on This Morning (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Still, if you were unhappy with The Abominable Bride, take heart in this little reminder:

@wearthedamnhat let's hope so. The fourth series will not be anything like the Special. — amanda abbington (@CHIMPSINSOCKS) January 4, 2016

Filming on series four is reportedly set to begin in April.

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