Victorian-era ‘Sherlock’ Premieres New Year’s Day (US & UK)

Today in the inbox, hot off the press from PBS:

MEDIA ADVISORY

MASTERPIECE and PBS Announce New Sherlock Special
to Premiere on January 1

Event Marks the First Time for a Sherlock US-UK Same Day Premiere

October 24, 2015 – MASTERPIECE and PBS today announced that Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, a 90-minute special, will premiere Friday, January 1, 2016 on MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS at 9:00 p.m. ET, and simultaneously online at pbs.org/masterpiece. The special will have an encore broadcast on Sunday, January 10 at 10:00 p.m. ET. This is the first time that Sherlock has premiered in the US and the UK on the same day.

Program Description: Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit) return as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the acclaimed modern retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic stories. But now our heroes find themselves in 1890s London. Beloved characters Mary Morstan (played by Amanda Abbington), Inspector Lestrade (Rupert Graves) and Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs) also turn up at 221b Baker Street. Sherlock: The Abominable Bride is a 90-minute Sherlock Special.

Catholics may be interested to find out that Freeman — who also starred in the “Hobbit” movies and in the first season of FX’s “Fargo” — was raised in the Church. But it’s not been smooth sailing.

From a 2009 article in the U.K.’s Daily Mail:

‘Maybe that’s my bit of non-conformism, because the rest of my life is quite conventional in lots of ways. I’m one of the few people I know who believes in God.’

It turns out Martin, who was raised a Catholic, has a rather spiky relationship with God. ‘My relationship with my belief has never been easy. Me and God have always been like this.’

He raises his fists and shadow boxes.

Martin lives in England with his longtime partner, actress Amanda Abbington, who plays John Watson’s wife, Mary. Although they have two children — son Joe, and daughter Grace — they haven’t wed. But they did have a wedding ceremony, of sorts, when John and Mary tied the knot on “Sherlock” in 2014.

At the time, I got to ask Abbington about this situation, and she said:

During a recent visit to Southern California, Abbington recalls that, during filming, she thought, “‘Well, we’ve done this now, haven’t we? We’re doing this now. We’re having a party; I’m in a wedding dress; I’ve got a ring on; I just need to change my name by deed poll, and that’s it.’”

Asked why there hasn’t been a real-life wedding thus far, Abbington says, “Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe one day we will. It sometimes does [come up], ‘Should we do it? I think we will, eventually.

Our children are saying now, “Mummy, you should get married.” They know we’re not. Especially my son, who’s going, “Please, Mama, please be married.” Maybe we’ll do it in Italy.

“We did think about it, in Sorrento, because that’s where we go as a family. Maybe we’ll go and do it just with the children. I think that’s where I’m going to go and retire. I can see myself sitting in an old olive grove with some wine.”

So, let’s send up some prayers and see if the special grace of Catholic baptism can work on Freeman and lead to nuptials!

In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at the special episode: