Moffat told IGN: “Sue [Vertue, Sherlock‘s producer, is] working on the schedules right now. I just started with [Peter] Capaldi on the new series of Doctor Who. You know, we’ll do what we can, but with no sacrifice in quality — that’s the thing. If people have to wait two years, they’ll have to wait two years.”

He added: “When’s the next James Bond film? You know, [Sherlock]’s not that kind of show that turns up all the time. It’s just not. But the good news is, that probably means it will turn up sporadically for a very, very long while.”

> Find out everything we know so far about Series 4 in our news summary.

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> Buy Series 3 on DVD on Amazon.

> Buy the Series 1-2 boxset on Amazon.

Watch the Series 3 teaser trailer…