Benedict Cumberbatch has become a heartthrob to Chinese fans of the BBC TV series Sherlock

It's been announced that the BBC's Sherlock is back for a forth series.

The creators of the award winning show have confirmed Benedict Cumberbach and Martin Freeman as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson will ba back for a special next year, followed by a fourth series of three episodes.

Filming is set to start  in January.

The popularity of the show's stars and creators has made it difficult for them to  commit to filming more episodes until now.

The last series kicked off with Sherlock returning from the dead, however the BBC said series four would be ''the most shocking and surprising series of Sherlock yet''.