The BBC has long endured accusations of being full of left-wing luvvies.

And the team behind Sherlock appear determined to play up to that reputation, as they announce a new episode in which a mysterious stranger is smashing up images of the late Baroness Thatcher.

A New Year episode of Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, will see a plot unfold around the extraordinary vandalism of six art works depicting the former Prime Minister.

Information about the mischievous show states: “Why is someone destroying images of the late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher? Is there a madman on the loose?”