Martin Freeman reveals when ‘Sherlock’ Season 4 will begin airing

LONDON, April 30 (UPI) — British actor Martin Freeman says Sherlock Season 4 is to begin airing late this year or in early 2017.

Freeman, who plays sleuth John Watson on the popular drama, talked about the show’s return on Friday’s edition of the U.K. chat program The Graham Norton Show.

“I imagine January or Christmas,” he said, after joking Sherlock wouldn’t be back until 2029.

Sherlock co-stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the brilliant consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, Watson’s partner in crime-solving.

Season 3 wrapped in January 2014. A one-off TV movie starring Cumberbatch and Freeman and set in Victorian London aired this past January.

Season 4 began shooting this month. It will consist of three episodes.