@gosherlocked  Does anyone use the term ‘ensconced’ nowadays to say ‘hiding’? Sounds victorian very much too. :))))

hmm, just the other day, a few of us were wondering if "dracula" might me a decoy title. I know, this is potentially appl* tr** y*rd level tinhatting, and only time will tell, but massively anticipated shows have used that ruse in the past.

When you eliminate the improbable…series five is coming soon.

Blah blah, no series 5 for forever because everyone is busy, right?

Except…mark and Steven have been “working on Dracula” for over a year and have nothing to show for it yet. And…since when do they tell people what they’re doing ahead of time?? And before they’d even written the script?? 🤨 that’s weird.

Benedict and Martin just got done with HUGE projects- both were involved in the MCU, Ben had Patrick Melrose and the IW tour, Martin promoted Cargo and Ghost Stories. And now?? They both appear to be in London, doing random interviews, small appearances, maybe a little voice work, some filming. But like…nothing huge.

Plus, HISTORICALLY, some pretty BIG DIRECTORS ( uhhh Scott Derrickson for Doctor Strange and PETER JACKSON!) rearranged filming schedules in order to allow Martin and Ben to finish filming Sherlock series

Finally, the specially recorded footage for the escape room sure seems like it would lend to some *other* filming, if necessary.

What say you? Time for series 5?

@thornypeach3 @88thparallel @ebaeschnbliah @inevitably-johnlocked @sarahthecoat @fellshish @gosherlocked @possiblyimbiassed @jenna221b

It’s late and I can’t think of anyone else. Feel free to tag others.

@elldotsee: You have indeed a point. I keep wondering about the Dracula project which seems extremely vague. It has not been mentioned since June last year except marginally in a some interviews and does not seem to excite either audience nor media so far. I am not a conspiracy theorist but imagine you have delivered series 4 of your big show and it has not had the enthusiastic response it used to have. However, you want to continue your story. So why not plan in secret used another project as a sort of decoy. If journalists ask about you current plans you can always answer you are working on the Dracula scripts. This is just an idea and I can very wrong but to me the whole Dracula thing felt weird from the very beginning. 

And there has been the tweet by Tim Diepenhorst about Martin and Mark working together. It is probably about the escape room but still, having Martin in something Sherlock-related again might be a good sign. 

So I have no idea if they could really be filming S5 soon but to me a continuation has become more probably than it was months ago. And as you said, I never understood the argument of Benedict and Martin being too busy. It does work for other shows and well-known directors have made concessions for the filming schedule. 

@ebaeschnbliah

Yes, @elldotsee @gosherlocked  all of this feels indeed a bit weird. May I add one of the strangest things to this list … the BBC Worldwide Showcase Event from 20 February 2017. It’s the world’s biggest TV export market hosted by a single distributor. And I still wonder about the same thing  …

This never made much sense to me.

Yep - I think you make several good points here @elldotsee, @gosherlocked and @ebaeschnbliah (even if I don’t want to speculate about exactly when S5 will come); that the Dracula project seems like empty words actually covering up for something else, that the escape room might also be a good opportunity for filming in general and that these ‘super-busy’ superstars have seen their other mega-projects adapting to Sherlock’s schedule before. And yes, of course: what’s the point of promoting a product now, of which the show makers have said themselves that they don’t know when it will air again - if at all? I don’t want to stir up any kind of expectations from anyone regarding Mofftiss’ intentions. But since the day these two gentlemen publicly declared that they are ‘lying liars who lie’, I don’t see why we should trust a single word that they say about their production. And I believe the show-makers’ whole conduct regarding S4 justifies that skepticism. I also suspect they have been playing with their audience from Day 1. And if they’re playing ‘the game’ with us, they’re certainly not doing it for playing’s sake, because what would be the actual point of that, if there’s no resolution to the game?

And, by the way, in that first interview Gatiss claims they “deliberately left it [the show] in a happy place”. Seriously, did any character look genuinely happy at the end of TFP (except for ‘Mary’-the-dead-assassin)? Did I miss something? It’s like hearing Sherlock tell John in HLV regarding his (shameless and totally fake) relationship with Janine: 

 Sure, Jan! :))

Ahhhhhh, I see now @possiblyimbiassed  Good catch!  The ‘happy place’ …. the show-makers must have got that from a book like ‘everyone’ else. 

Well, in this case rather from a script, it seems. :)))))))

oh my, yes! :D didn’t they also try to pass off some nonsense about the end of s4 bringing the characters up to the point where we first meet them “in the book”? Which never made a lick of sense to me, nobody who had watched any single episode of the show would buy that line.

Absolutely agree, the only place where they left us is outside of any canonical adaptation of Holmes, outside of Rathbone precisely. Ready for what must happen. And in my crazy twisted mind, stuck at the age of four, I suppose they’d also like to try and shoot as much as possible outside the setlock’s delirium. I know this sounds improbable and impossible, but we know what happens when we delete these things, they’ve been raising such a curtain of smoke for so long that now we’re no longer able to see anything. Not to mention my crazy headcanon for which they have already shot over the years at least half of what we should see … but probably I screwed the few neurons I had available ….

And Dracula … Dracula would be so fascinating if it were not such a damned really similar project …

@gosherlocked @ebaeschnbliah @possiblyimbiassed @sarahthecoat @elldotsee

Yes to all this, @raggedyblue, @sarahthecoat, @possiblyimbiassed, @ebaeschnbliah: What I never got about this “leaving them where they started in the book” is that they did just that, they told the story of Holmes and Watson meeting for the first time which is exactly what ACD tells us in his stories! If they had chosen to show us what Sherlock and John did BEFORE they met, fine. But they told us their version of Scarlet etc., not some prequel to ACD Canon. 

And as for Dracula - some things are fishy indeed. Like knowing you are going to do 90-minute episodes but having no idea how many of them? Not a shred of information about the cast, not even rumours. And then we had this vampire remark in TST as well …

I’m with you all… Dracula as some kind of cover up for continuing filming just seems almost to perfect. especially when we think of all the scenes (eg TEH) where they’ve put in something simillar…

and think about the possibility that we are in Sherlocks mind since maybe even after the fall, “undead but not in the world as whole” as a term is kinda fitting ;)

Yes - “undead” sounds fitting, @mathilderunout, since I think Sherlock is in coma since at least the end of S3, possibly longer. The latest ‘news’ I could find about this supposed Dracula project is from Digital Spy from about a week ago. Anyone hoping to know more about this Dracula series must have been disappointed, though; a year after publicly announcing the project, there’s still no cast, no crew and not even a script in progress. Basically there’s nothing, except for the reminder that Gatiss himself already is Dracula in a long audio adaptation from 2016 :))) (so why would he feel the sudden need to do basically the same thing again but as a screenwriter?):

I also agree with @gosherlocked that this has never been a canon ‘prequel’; there are other things entirely that makes this differ a long way from ACD’s books (like for example Holmes becoming a murderer or Watson raising a baby with an assassin). 

So, to summarize: at the end of S4 they left us outside the Rathbone adaptation, which is now called “a happy place”? But instead of exploring this ‘happy place’ and its possible new content in their mega-TV-show with millions of expectant viewers all over the world, these writers have decided to create another series together in between (continuing the horror theme from TFP?), which would further postpone the completion of a show they haven’t actually finished. I mean, who on earth would be happy doing such a half-hearted effort?

@raggedyblue @ebaeschnbliah @elldotsee @sarahthecoat

@possiblyimbiassed: Just read the article. The author must have learned from politicians - saying much without saying anything. We basically know nothing: when it will air, who will be in the cast, how many episodes … and I cannot remember BBC One themselves giving any statement about it either. However, there was this tweet by Ruther from a few days ago: 

Which would make it a 2019 release. It is from this article:

Just to get this clear: We know that Martin and Mark have been filming something, allegedly for the escape room. In February, the show has been promoted at a TV fair (sorry, @ebaeschnbliah, do you still have the link?). They are doing a Q & A on Tumblr next week, calling it the #SummerofSherlock. And then they want us to believe us that Dracula” about which there is zero information will air next year?

@sarahthecoat, @mathilderunout, @raggedyblue, @elldotsee

hmmmm, yeah, no, something very fishy about that!

When you eliminate the improbable…series five is coming soon.

Blah blah, no series 5 for forever because everyone is busy, right?

Except…mark and Steven have been “working on Dracula” for over a year and have nothing to show for it yet. And…since when do they tell people what they’re doing ahead of time?? And before they’d even written the script?? 🤨 that’s weird.

Benedict and Martin just got done with HUGE projects- both were involved in the MCU, Ben had Patrick Melrose and the IW tour, Martin promoted Cargo and Ghost Stories. And now?? They both appear to be in London, doing random interviews, small appearances, maybe a little voice work, some filming. But like…nothing huge.

Plus, HISTORICALLY, some pretty BIG DIRECTORS ( uhhh Scott Derrickson for Doctor Strange and PETER JACKSON!) rearranged filming schedules in order to allow Martin and Ben to finish filming Sherlock series

Finally, the specially recorded footage for the escape room sure seems like it would lend to some *other* filming, if necessary.

What say you? Time for series 5?

@thornypeach3 @88thparallel @ebaeschnbliah @inevitably-johnlocked @sarahthecoat @fellshish @gosherlocked @possiblyimbiassed @jenna221b

It’s late and I can’t think of anyone else. Feel free to tag others.

@elldotsee: You have indeed a point. I keep wondering about the Dracula project which seems extremely vague. It has not been mentioned since June last year except marginally in a some interviews and does not seem to excite either audience nor media so far. I am not a conspiracy theorist but imagine you have delivered series 4 of your big show and it has not had the enthusiastic response it used to have. However, you want to continue your story. So why not plan in secret used another project as a sort of decoy. If journalists ask about you current plans you can always answer you are working on the Dracula scripts. This is just an idea and I can very wrong but to me the whole Dracula thing felt weird from the very beginning. 

And there has been the tweet by Tim Diepenhorst about Martin and Mark working together. It is probably about the escape room but still, having Martin in something Sherlock-related again might be a good sign. 

So I have no idea if they could really be filming S5 soon but to me a continuation has become more probably than it was months ago. And as you said, I never understood the argument of Benedict and Martin being too busy. It does work for other shows and well-known directors have made concessions for the filming schedule. 

@ebaeschnbliah

Yes, @elldotsee @gosherlocked  all of this feels indeed a bit weird. May I add one of the strangest things to this list … the BBC Worldwide Showcase Event from 20 February 2017. It’s the world’s biggest TV export market hosted by a single distributor. And I still wonder about the same thing  …

This never made much sense to me.

Yep - I think you make several good points here @elldotsee, @gosherlocked and @ebaeschnbliah (even if I don’t want to speculate about exactly when S5 will come); that the Dracula project seems like empty words actually covering up for something else, that the escape room might also be a good opportunity for filming in general and that these ‘super-busy’ superstars have seen their other mega-projects adapting to Sherlock’s schedule before. And yes, of course: what’s the point of promoting a product now, of which the show makers have said themselves that they don’t know when it will air again - if at all? I don’t want to stir up any kind of expectations from anyone regarding Mofftiss’ intentions. But since the day these two gentlemen publicly declared that they are ‘lying liars who lie’, I don’t see why we should trust a single word that they say about their production. And I believe the show-makers’ whole conduct regarding S4 justifies that skepticism. I also suspect they have been playing with their audience from Day 1. And if they’re playing ‘the game’ with us, they’re certainly not doing it for playing’s sake, because what would be the actual point of that, if there’s no resolution to the game?

And, by the way, in that first interview Gatiss claims they “deliberately left it [the show] in a happy place”. Seriously, did any character look genuinely happy at the end of TFP (except for ‘Mary’-the-dead-assassin)? Did I miss something? It’s like hearing Sherlock tell John in HLV regarding his (shameless and totally fake) relationship with Janine: 

 Sure, Jan! :))

Ahhhhhh, I see now @possiblyimbiassed  Good catch!  The ‘happy place’ …. the show-makers must have got that from a book like ‘everyone’ else. 

Well, in this case rather from a script, it seems. :)))))))

oh my, yes! :D didn't they also try to pass off some nonsense about the end of s4 bringing the characters up to the point where we first meet them "in the book"? Which never made a lick of sense to me, nobody who had watched any single episode of the show would buy that line.