My guess is that S4 and S5 weren't written in 2014, but they had sketched ideas, including particularly the Eurus story.   TAB was not written until they had the opportunity to do that one off episode and seized the chance to do a Victorian one that was still part of the modern canon!   As filming became more difficult to schedule, they decided to condense the sketched out S4/5 ideas into just three episodes of S4. 

I don't think there has ever been a decision to not carry on, but I do think there was a decision to leave S4 with a proper ending, just in case.  I still don't think they've decided not to do it - just that there's the possibility that it might go ahead.  Obviously, there's the difficulty in scheduling, particularly with Martin and Ben being so famous and successful.   And I wonder if it just doesn't fit so well with people's viewing habits any more too, when we're all on Netflix and so on - do they need a rethink on format, maybe?  I just don't know. 

Unless Moffat and Gatiss announce that yes, Season 4 was the last, we cannot assume that it was.  It's up to them to decide, and they will surely announce it if they decide that there will be no more seasons.  That they have not made such an announcement up to this point indicates that they're at least keeping the possibility of Season 5 open.

 

Last edited by kgreen20 (April 11, 2018 10:12 pm)

Personally, I like the format.  And some excellent recent shows that I've watched still release episodes weekly - Twin Peaks, Better Call Saul, etc.  Not that they have to copy other shows anyway!  But most shows do have more episodes, and I think you especially feel it with the ones that are released weekly.  I felt immersed in Twin Peaks for months, when it was on!  The two weeks of Sherlock seemed so short after such a long wait (of course, it was a much longer wait for Twin Peaks!).  Anyway, it did seem that S4 didn't get as high viewing figures - whether that was people losing interest, or preferring to watch on catch-up, I don't know.  

Another stand alone episode would be absolutely brilliant!  I do hope there's a chance of that, if they can't manage a full S5 anytime soon.

I'd happily take stand alone!

Woohoo!

Last edited by besleybean (April 19, 2018 7:56 pm)

You could be right...but there is hope.

Don´t they work on "Dracula" now?

besleybean wrote:

They will be soon, from what I can gather.

Was there any news about the filming yet?
 

We can only hope!  This sounds like they're a lot further forward than anything else we've heard.  For Benedict to even know what stage the writing and production is at, he must be at least in contact with Moftiss, which bodes well.

There is one thing: he used the word "season", rather than "series" - we tend to say "series" in the UK, and "season" is an odd word to use for a two-week, three-episode run.  Which does make me wonder if maybe there's a slight mistake somewhere.  However, it could well be just because he works internationally these days, and I think "season" is more common outside the UK.  Or maybe he did the interview in Italian and it has been translated back to English, rather than the other way around?
 

Last edited by Liberty (May 2, 2018 6:56 pm)

nakahara wrote:

Script for a new season is ready for months? Really? 
Now, that made me extremely curious about its content.... what could it possibly be after TFP? 

I did wonder the same for a while, thinking they had left nowhere to go, and eventually started this thread -> How would your perfect S5 look like? A lot of cool ideas came up, so I'm now more hopeful about an eventual series 5.