So there's a US air date - relax people, I think it'll be Jan 11 or 12 in the UK

Well the big news yesterday was that PBS has a release date for the first episode of Sherlock series 3.

This prompted something dangerously close to outrage from the rest of the world and, in particular, the UK. How dare the Americans know when they're going to see it before we do?

But let's look at this a little more rationally. We know that PBS airs Ep1 on Jan 19th and we know from the BBC that we'll be seeing it beforehand. So the latest date we in the UK will see it is the 18th.

It seems generally accepted that we won't see it this side of 2014 and I doubt it will be scheduled too close to the Doctor Who Xmas episode with its regeneration.

I think it highly probable that we'll see Ep1 of series three in the second week of January 2014 so somewhere between the 6th and 12th. It is also more than likely that it will air on a weekend.

I stress that this is nothing more than a guess. Given the risk of dodgy internet viewing I would further suggest that the gap between UK and US airing will be short which would suggest that the date will be closer to the 12th than the 6th.

I would therefore put a bet on the 11th or 12th of January for the UK. Time will tell if I'm right.

Written by Alistair Duncan

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