‘Sherlock’ creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have shared an update on when series five is likely to go into production and sadly, it looks like fans are in for a long wait.

Season four aired way back in January 2017 and given that Steven and Mark have other commitments – as do Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman – resuming work on the programme isn’t a simple process.

Revealing how things currently stand, Steven told RadioTimes.com: “We haven’t got an immediate plan, but I would remain surprised, given the collective enthusiasm we have for it, if we didn’t do it again.

“It’s not the kind of show that has to come back all the time. It can revisit. Every time Sherlock comes back it’s a reunion show.”

Mark added: “We’re doing Dracula, which is going to take two years at least.

“We’re not going to do ‘Sherlock’ whilst we’re doing ‘Dracula’. So it’s not going to happen in the immediate future. Never say never, but no – we don’t have an idea.”

While the wait for new episodes is going to be a long one, the duo’s comments are good news as Mark previously appeared to hint that ‘Sherlock’ may never return.

In April 2017, he said: “It was very, very hard to schedule the last series, because of Martin and Benedict’s availability. And Steve [Moffat] and mine.

“There is always that Fawlty Towers principle of, ‘Let’s just leave it,’.

“We’ve had the keys to Baker Street for a while, but one of the wonderful things is that they’re always shared. They were shared while we were making it.”