#SherlockLives

It has been announced that Sherlock Holmes will return to our screens on 1 Jan 2014. Fittingly, for an episode titled ‘The Empty Hearse’, this news was announced with a vehicle on the streets of London. An empty hearse.

Described by Michael Price as, ‘Best air date announcement ever’, the hearse has been driving round popular Sherlock locations in London today, including St. Bart’s Hospital where the character ‘fell’ to his ‘death’.

Twitter is very excited about the stunt, led by @BBCOne which has changed its name to #SherlockLives. Thousands of people have been tweeting and RT images of the hearse today. One of the first tweets of the hearse came from Susan Kirk, who has 24 followers on Twitter. Her tweet has so far managed over 1,000 retweets:

#sherlocklives pic.twitter.com/70cilLQwRT

— Susan Kirk (@kirk_skirk) November 29, 2013

The same image was used by Sherlockology, who also posted a teaser picture for this morning’s event and has been live tracking it today.

People seem to enjoy the ingenuity of the marketing stunt as much as the stunt itself. Dom Oliver retweeted the picture calling it ‘the best marketing’; and Red Desk VA said it was, ‘Very clever marketing’. 

And for some, the news is just a source of pure excitement: 

YEAHHHH SHERLOCK LIVES #r3spects #SherlockLives pic.twitter.com/iRN5n3fnKL

— Benedict Cumberbatch (@Benedictpics) November 29, 2013

Yippeeekiyayy we have an airdate #theemptyhearse #sherlock #sherlocklives #bbcone pic.twitter.com/AWXnbkO2Nr

— Laura Crichton (@LauraCrichtonxx) November 29, 2013

The suspense is devouring me! #SherlockLives #Cumberbatch pic.twitter.com/xwvGOLSjBu

— Robin Glover (@castle_owl_) November 29, 2013

The three episodes will air on 1 January, 5 January and 12 January, making one of the biggest shows on the BBC over in just under the space of a fortnight. With both Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman now international film stars, it’s unclear whether a fourth series will be possible. 

Graphs for #SherlockLives made with Cision Social Media via CisionPoint.