Let's not get into "feast or famine" shall we?

The commercial channels are suffering from a severe loss of revenue.
The BBC isn't, never has, and probably never will, despite all the mutterings from the government, yet they are bobbins at managing the £3,600,000,000 each year.

For cryin' out loud I wish I knew in my business what the year's income would be in advance, it would have made the budgeting a piece of cake!
They've too many channels and so we get endless repeats and some pretty dire programmes on many occasions passed of as worthy of "prime time."
Now some of the same programmes appear on the same channel a couple of days later. At least in the past it was restricted to periodic repeats and in the recent past repeating programmes on BBC2 which only a short time before were on either BBC3 or 4, when digital came along.

The BBC's justification; "As not everyone has got digital."
So that excuse is now "out the window" but it does and will continue to happen.

They even say, "it's what viewers want."

A Sunday night drama "series" should be at least six episodes.

Why does it HAVE to be six episodes? 3 90mins seems extremely acceptable to me. ?

I am *so* looking forward to this tonight. It looks like it's going to be such a lot of fun. I'm also really happy that the episodes are a decent length. If it's as good as I hope it's going to be a bit disappointing that there are only three episodes, though.

And I totally agree with Lew1, the BBC does churn out some kind of crap a lot of the time, but without it we're sunk!

That equates to "four and a half"

If you think that's OK then that's fine by me, why should I care?

My point is that series used to be at least six episodes.

In recent years, "prime time" dramas have often been reduced to three.

But in terms of overall length, Sherlock will come in at 270 minutes (3 x 90 minutes).

That doesn't compare at all badly with some of the true 'classics' from the 'old days'. Take The Singing Detective as an example. That played out, yes, over 6 weeks, but each episode was only 50 minutes long. End result? 300 minutes.

It's not a huge difference. And I see no reason that a drama must run a certain number of weeks.

Really looking forward to this. I'm a Jeremy Brett girl where Sherlock Holmes is concerned and it will be interesting to see a different take on it.

I like Benedict Cumberbatch and think he will bring a certain surreal quality to the character. Not convinced about Martin Freeman as Watson but am open minded and prepared to be proven wrong.

From what I heard on Andrew Marr this morning this has been written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffatt so I'm feeling very positive.

As for BBC drama v ITV drama v license fee etc - start another thread and leave this one to Sherlock please.

Yes, they 'used to be'. Things have changed a bit, and I don't see it as a bad thing. I can't see why you're complaining before this has even started, you might even find the format suits this show?

I didn't say it should.

I'm saying it used to be six or more.

An hour's enough, 90 minutes seems a bit like "padding." But we'll have to wait and see.

If the quality isn't up to much, I guess the ratings would decline a lot more over six episodes than three.

I am also looking forward to it.

Enjoyed Rupbert Everett's Holmes the other Christmas

I am very attached to the original Conan Doyle source material and am a stickler for detail. I regard Jeremy Brett to be the definitive Holmes and believe that almost nothing can hold a candle to his portrayal. I also believe that the Victorian setting is absolutely essential to maintain the character and the atmosphere of the piece, the rolling fog, the richness of the period detail and the exquisite costuming and the popular culture of the time, like the language and historic references.

I listened to a radio programme on i-Player where they were discussing the series and the overall consensus was that Martin Freeman was especially convincing.

Excellent, thank you. I like MF, I just think he can be a bit of a one trick actor.

25 years ago ITV made excellent drama. Now its drama output is weak compared to the BBC.

"Robin of Sherwood" was a load of mystical, anachronistic nonsense. Hardly a definitive interpretation, though it was entertaining. For me, the definitive TV Robin Hood was the original Lew Grade series, also for ITV. Nothing else comes close.

I have no problem with people trying to put a new spin on a classic tale. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. No harm in trying...would rather have something like this on TV than yet more Strictly Come Dine With Me Ice Dancing rubbish.

I think this will either be very good or a total disaster. Will be interesting to see which!

4444 shall be tuning in.

Not long now. Can't wait.

I do hope it's good. TV is so naff right now it would be nice to have something to praise.

Looking forward to this!

Me to. I'm a fan of Moffat and Gatiss, so I can't see how it can go that wrong. I'll be optimistic

Here we go

Is it me or does the theme tune sound like The Tomorrow People?

I have great hopes for this. It's got a great cast and production team.

Just back from Afghanistan?

what the flipping doodah

You were quicker than Sherlock!