‘Sherlock’ Creator Says He Doesn’t Know Whether Hit Show Will Return

Sherlock could be no more. 

Mark Gatiss, who co-created the hit BBC series with Stephen Moffat, has dropped the strongest hint yet that the increasingly hectic schedules of stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman — a growing thorn in the side of the detective show — could see Sherlock laid to rest. 

“I honestly don’t know if there will be any more,” he said at the WhatsOnStage awards Sunday, according to The Sun. “It’s incredibly difficult to get Benedict and Martin’s diaries to align.”

Cumberbatch has growing commitments within the Marvel universe as Doctor Strange, alongside work with his own production outfit SunnyMarch, while Freeman, also a Marvel member as Everett K. Ross, is filming Black Panther, and has titles including Cargo — recently sold to Netflix — and Ghost Stories coming up. 

Sherlock‘s season-four finale also drew the show’s lowest ever overnight ratings, around 5.9 million tuning in to watch The Final Problem on Jan. 15, down from the 8.1 million who watched the first episode on New Year’s Day.

Despite the falling figures, Gatiss suggested that the storyline felt conclusive enough should the BBC decide to call time on its former ratings juggernaut. 

“And obviously we left it in a very happy place,” he said. “If that’s the end I’d be very happy where we left it.”

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