'Sherlock' season 4: New Christmas special to be based on 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle'?

Video Screenshot/BBC

Earlier this year, Sherlock actor Martin Freeman spilled the beans that BBC favorite TV series "Sherlock" will be doing a Christmas special next year.

"Mark Gatiss may beat me up, but there is an idea for this one-off special that's such a good idea, and as I was listening to it I thought 'we've just got to do this.' And I don't know when we are going to be able to do it, unfortunately. It's a fantastic, really mouth-watering idea. But I really don't know when we are going to get to do it," Martin said to Channel 4's Alan Carr in April.

The report continued that the Christmas special will be based on the story of "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle." However, this is not yet confirmed by the company.

Meanwhile, the fourth season of the most-loved series will be back on air in 2016. According to a report from Yahoo, "Sherlock" will be back for a new season, but it will not be big. The report said that the season 4 will only be composed of three episodes. There is no exact date yet as to when the series will be back on air.

The primary reason of the delay is that the main actors of the series are busy working on other projects. Martin Freeman is currently filming the new "Hobbit" film, while Benedict Cumberbatch is shooting "Black Mass" and will be followed by "Blood Mountain".

The filming of the "Sherlock" season 4 will start in January 2015. But the geniuses behind the series are already concocting ideas for the next season. There are no spoilers yet for the fourth season it is still in the early stages of planning.

"Sherlock" is the modern-day adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective series. The BBC crime drama series reaped three nominations for major accolades at the 2014 Emmy Awards.