‘Sherlock: The Abominable Bride’ scores impressive ratings after nearly two-year break

Even though fewer and fewer people around the globe are choosing to tune in to live TV, “Sherlock” continues to be something that unifies crowds. For evidence of that, you really do not have to look any further than some of the ratings this weekend.

In total, 8.4 million people chose to watch the “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride” special on BBC One New Year’s Day, which made it the most-watched holiday special of the season for the network. This easily surpassed the “Downton Abbey” series finale and “Call the Midwife” Christmas Special, though they did have a disadvantage mostly in that these two shows aired on (go figure) December 25.

While this total is smaller than the total audience for “Sherlock: The Empty Hearse” (the beginning of season 3 back in 2014), this is still a great bit of proof that there is great success to be found in the Benedict Cumberbatch – Martin Freeman series. We know that a fourth season has been ordered and will film at some point later this year; as for when it airs, our theory for the moment is that it will be on TV in early 2017. This time seems to work very well for the BBC, since it fills a gap where they do not have as much programming. At least for season 4 we should have three separate installments to enjoy.

Of course, we’ve still been trying to piece together some of the theories and the intrigue from the loopy “Abominable Bride,” which you can read our review for over here. We do believe that it is rather fantastic, but there are some elements to it that will polarize some viewers.

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