We may be getting a Victorian-set Christmas special sometime soon(ish) but most fans still really want to know when the much-antipicated fourth series of Sherlock will air. Well, if you’re such a fan you’re in luck as new news has materialised on the subject.

Earlier in the year co-creator Steven Moffat revealed that production on the series would resume in Spring 2016 and now he has shed further light on the matter and confirmed that work is expected to begin on it in April next year.

Speaking to Collider, Moffat said: “Mark [Gatiss, co-creator] will be starting [his script] very soon. He may have started. I’ve got to finish my Doctor Who Christmas special and then I’ll be straight onto Sherlock after that.”

Here’s the original story we ran back in May:

Hold on to your deerstalkers, everyone, we’ve got some exciting news – the long-awaited Sherlock Series Four is to begin filming next Spring!

Speaking at the BAFTA Television Awards ceremony yesterday evening (at which Sherlock won the Radio Times Audience Award), co-creator Steven Moffat and star Amanda Abbington confirmed that work on the three-part series is scheduled to commence early next year, shortly after the airing of the one-off Christmas special – which, as we know, is to be set in Victorian times.

‘It was just lovely doing that period,’ Abbington said, on the subject of the special. ‘I had some glorious things to wear and the boys looked great. Martin [Freeman] looks very fine in Victorian garments!’

Moffat has spoken about the upcoming series before, describing it as detailing an ’emotional upheaval’ in the lives of our heroes and about seeing the ‘consequences’ of Sherlock’s actions.

‘[Season four is] dark in some ways,’ Moffat has said. ‘Obviously it’s great fun and a Sherlock Holmes romp and all that – but there’s a sense of things coming back to bite you.’

Things coming back to bite you, eh, Moffat? Things such as Irish evil masterminds who have come back from the dead?

It looks like we might only have to wait until next year to find out…