Still reeling from last night’s piece of brilliant telly and the BBC/PBS broadcast of Sherlock “The Abominable Bride”? FYI, you are not alone. What a gem of a special that probably did more to send your mind palace into orbit than anything has since, probably, January 2014 and the end of series 3 of Sherlock.

While it was more than worth the two-year wait, all it does is drive home the reality that we’re probably a good year away from the next installment. That said, with the special in our collective rearview mirror, now is definitely not the time to just sit on a random park bench and ponder our next move…

It is time to turn our attention to what’s ahead for series 4 of Sherlock. Here’s what we know based on a few Easter eggs that the creative team of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have been leaving along the way. In keeping with the first three series, series 4 will consist of three episodes. Set to begin production, hopefully, Spring 2016, that would put the possibility of broadcast to be around January 2017. Don’t bet the farm but I bet, based on the last two series, this would be a pretty safe bet.

“It’s taken a little while to get the dates sorted as none of the boys are exactly sitting back twiddling their thumbs,” says executive producer Sue Vertue. But those dates are now in the diary, and Steven Moffat recently told Collider he expected shooting to start ‘April-ish‘.

According to Moffat, “There’s going to be some dark stuff coming. We’re going to try to take it somewhere we’ve never been before — a challenging place to go. We might just be going darker. We’re certainly going to put them through the mill,” added Moffat. “It’s going to be more of an emotional upheaval. It will be tough at times. A tougher series.”

Co-creator/writer, Mark Gatiss, told Entertainment Weekly, “This is a major, life-changing series for the regulars. The repercussions of Moriarty’s apparent return are far-reaching. It’s very big stuff.”

While “The Abominable Bride” seemed to solve the Moriarty mystery once and for all, having appeared only in Sherlock’s cocaine-induced dream sequences, one can always hold out hope for a Moriarty return, however, especially after Sherlock’s comment, “I know exactly what he’s going to do next”. We need more Moriarty, played brilliantly by Andrew Scott. Just remember, “…it’s not the fall that will kill you. It’s the landing.”

The best of all news surround Sherlock?

A fifth series of Sherlock has already been confirmed by Steven Moffat, who says he and Gatiss have it all plotted out. The greatness of this is that this does rule out Holmes or Watson meeting a grisly end next year.

It’s going to be a long year, but we’ll get through it together!