Sherlock fans could be waiting a long time for new episodes of the BBC detective drama, but much closer on the horizon is a chance to hear the music from the show played by a live orchestra.


Speaking during a session at the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival, composers David Arnold and Michael Price confirmed that they are planning a follow-up to the 2015 Sherlock Prom, with a programme updated to include music from the recent fourth series.

“I think it’ll be a good night out to be honest,” said Arnold. “What’s lovely about doing it live is that it kind of comes back to you because it’s just you, the music and the audience… Ten million people watch it on a Sunday night and we’re sitting there with a cup of tea, packet of biscuits, and have no experience of what anyone thinks of it.”

One potential addition to the concert will be the music Arnold and Price composed for the new series-four character of Sherlock’s sister Eurus, who was revealed to have been a master of disguise who had been tracking her brother and his friend John since the beginning of the series.

And the composers revealed how the music associated with Eurus, and in particular the final scenes in which she and Sherlock play a mournful violin duet together, had been planted in viewers’ minds even before they where aware she existed.


“In episode one we did a very cheerful, innocent version of Eurus’s theme in a major key for when she was on the bus [disguised as John’s love interest Elizabeth],” said Arnold. “These tiny things are seeded right from the start so by the time it gets to you as a violin solo[…] there is something, whether you recognise it or not, that has happened three hours ago when you see her in disguise.”