The creator of Sherlock has hinted at the possibility of the show returning for a fifth series.
Steven Moffatt has made the comment ahead of Sunday's season finale, which he's described as 'action-packed'. It follows complaints the latest series has made Benedict Cumberbatch's character a bit too much like James Bond.
In an interview with GQ, Benedict Cumberbatch described Season 4 as "the end of an era" and said for the time being, this will be the show's last outing.
However, Steven Moffatt has told Entertainment Weekly that fans of the show should not give themselves "those two years" to forget how mad Holmes and Watson are at each other.
The Final Problem will be shown on BBC One this Sunday at 9pm.
Among the critics of the latest season, Ralph Jones raised concern that Sherlock, instead of being clever, had become too flash and started to embody 007.
Writing in The Guardian, Jones argued that Sherlock's capabilities, "while breathtaking, are just about comprehensible. Holmes uses science and a phenomenal application of logic to make sense of physical evidence."
"Unlike Bond, he is just about human enough to remind us of people we have met at parties. He is a nerd, not an action figure; a scientist, not a spy. But, as Sherlock’s stakes have risen, and as the guns and assassins have multiplied, it is starting to feel worryingly like we are watching villains be taken to task by a mutation named Sherlock Bond."
Sherlock writer, Mark Gatiss, responded to that particular criticism by penning a poem:
Here is a critic who says with low blow
Sherlock’s no brain-box but become double-O.
Says the Baker St boy is no man of action –
whilst ignoring the stories that could have put him in traction.
The Solitary Cyclist sees boxing on show,
The Gloria Scott and The Sign of the Fo’
The Empty House too sees a mention, in time, of Mathews,
who knocked out poor Sherlock’s canine.
Is Sherlock worse for too much action? Gatiss sends his verse reaction
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As for arts martial, there’s surely a clue
in the misspelled wrestle Doyle called baritsu.
In hurling Moriarty over the torrent
did Sherlock find violence strange and abhorrent?
In shooting down pygmies and Hounds from hell
Did Sherlock on Victorian niceties dwell?
When Gruner’s men got him was Holmes quite compliant
Or did he give good account for The Illustrious Client?
There’s no need to invoke in yarns that still thrill,
Her Majesty’s Secret Servant with licence to kill
From Rathbone through Brett to Cumberbatch dandy
With his fists Mr Holmes has always been handy.
Mark Gatiss
London
