'Ghost stories work better in a Victorian setting,' Gatiss' co-creator Steven Moffat said earlier this year. However, there's no glimpse of a precious gem in the trailer for the episode, and neither a light-hearted jewel caper nor an adventurous treasure hunt seem to fit the eerie tone the Special is going for. There's just one little problem with that theory: the cast and crew of Sherlock seem to be pointing in an entirely different direction.įirst, Sherlock co-creator and actor Mark Gatiss (who plays Mycroft Holmes) tweeted this: So the title must be a hint that this will be a loose adaptation of The Musgrave Ritual, right? After all, that story - which involves two disappearances, one murder, a riddle-filled treasure map, and a long-lost treasure - sounds exciting enough to fill a 90-minute TV episode. However, one keen-eyed reader was able to find a possible hint in an 1893 short story titled The Adventure Of The Musgrave Ritual, as Holmes peruses through old case files: 'Here's the record of the Tarleton murders and the case of Vamberry, the wine merchant, and the adventure of the old Russian woman, and the singular affair of the aluminium crutch, as well as a full account of Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife.' Unfortunately, there are no titles on Doyle's canon that directly parallel 'The Abominable Bride,' so it's hard to tell which (if any) case this episode is inspired by. (Similarly, A Study In Scarlet becomes 'A Study In Pink' and A Scandal In Bohemia becomes 'A Scandal In Belgravia.') Thus, The Hound Of The Baskervilles becomes 'The Hounds Of Baskerville,' a story of military experiments and hallucinogenic gases. The show, which takes place in modern times, often takes some of the detective's more memorable mysteries and gives them a contemporary spin. While every episode of Sherlock has been inspired by Doyle's work, none of them have been directly adapted from any one specific novel or short story. Does that mean that 'The Abominable Bride' is based on a certain Sherlock Holmes story? And two, it will be the first episode of the series to take place in the Victorian England of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. For one, it will be the first time fans can watch an episode on the big screen in movie theaters. And just in case that novelty wasn't enough for you, there are couple of other firsts that come along with this New Year's Day special.

1, when the BBC and PBS air an episode of Sherlock titled 'The Abominable Bride' - the first new episode of the series since 'His Last Vow' in January of 2014 - it will be the first time fans of the show in both the United Kingdom and the United States will have gotten to watch it at the same time.

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