Sherlock Series 2 Not Airing Until 2012

BBC, why you gotta make us sad like this? You had the whole Sherlock fandom expecting a fall 2011 air date (although, to be fair, you never actually announced that’s when it was going to air), and now you’re telling us we’re not seeing more of Sherlock and his special friend Watson until next year? The humanity!

Production for the three episodes of series two of the show was moved around to accommodate Martin Freeman‘s Hobbit schedule (he flies back to resume filming on The Hobbit(s) in September when Sherlock wraps), which means that they’re in the latter stages of production now, but not close enough to finishing for a fall premiere.

Well, at least the rest of television can go back to ignoring the inferiority complex Sherlock gave them the first time around?

And according to practically every source close to the production (including Den of Geek, who were lucky enough to see 20 minutes of footage from the new series), “series 2 is right up there with the quality of the first.”

The announcement was made after a rerun of the first series’ finale last night on BBC1. The Sherlock fandom being an adamant one, they immediately took to twitter to bombard all involved. Sue Vertue, a producer on the show, said this in response:

Please don’t blame the poor BBC schedulers for the wait for #Sherlock. They can’t tx it till we deliver and we’re still filming – Sorry!

Over the past few months Sherlock fans have been ramping up steam once again (not that they ever really stopped), both with the (now moot) impending premiere of series two and with more (spoilery) photos from the set being leaked. We got to see Sherlock and Watson running down the street, handcuffed to each other! And there were mugs, too! They were very excited about the mugs.

In memory of the possibility of seeing Sherlock series two this fall, here is a GIF to illustrate my feelings about having to wait even another day:

And then there’s this slightly more optimistic take that I will probably adopt once I power through my own petulant-child reaction to the news, because you just know the wait’s gonna be worth it.

But I have to say, if by some fluke all that 2012 talk happens to be true, if the world ends before I get more Sherlock in my life I will not be happy.

(via Den of Geek)

(via TV Overmind)

(Photos via Vashta Nerada, Well Isn’t That Shiny, Enia59)