'Sherlock' fans got a tiny taster last night of what's to come in Season 3, but what are we to make of it all?
The BBC ran a 30-second teaser trailer following the re-run of the last of Season 2, which saw Sherlock somehow fake his own death, but sadly forgetting to let his closest friends in on the secret. And what did we see?
One shot of Benedict Cumberbatch is all we get in the Series 3 teaser trailer
The answer is, not much. The most shocking reveal of all was that John Watson (Martin Freeman) looks years older, sporting a bushy moustache. This was evidently designed to tell viewers that some time has gone by, and Sherlock's nearest and dearest have somehow gone about the business of trying to cope with life without him.
Mrs Hudson is washing up. Mycroft Holmes is, as usual, working in a leather chair. Lestrade is investigating in a darkened alleyway. Watson is drinking in a bar.
Is this really who we think it is?
As for the distinctive silhouette at the door, this may actually not be Sherlock Holmes at all. Paul Jones at the Radio Times makes the good point that this image comes straight from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who had Holmes construct a bust of himself put in the window of his Baker Street home, with the loyal Mrs Hudson moving it around regularly, to foil anybody who might think the singular detective is out and about.
There's no sign of Moriarty in the trailer - perhaps that was one death that WASN'T faked - nor any of the reported new villain on the block, being played by 'The Killing's Lars Mikkelsen. The trailer is, fittingly, all about the return of Holmes and the effect this will undoubtedly have on his nearest, dearest and Mycroft (whose Series 2 betrayal has not been forgiven in this house yet).
Series 3 is promised to viewers later in the year, by which time we just might have worked out Sherlock survived that fall. Any ideas yet?