MYSTERY MASTERPIECE
‘Terror and tragedy looming’ in fourth season of ‘Sherlock’
For decades, “Masterpiece” has been about producing high-end British costume drama. Then, a few years ago, the program tried its hand with “Sherlock,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and it became a hit.
“I always look for a story that has a plot that rattles along like a freight train,” says Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of “Masterpiece,” formerly “Masterpiece Theatre.” “It has to have complicated and interesting characters and be beautifully and insightfully written.”
The fourth season of “Sherlock” premieres on Sunday, Jan. 1.
The season begins with the mercurial Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, back once more on British soil as Dr. Watson, played by Martin Freeman, and his wife, Mary, played by Amanda Abbington, prepare for their biggest challenge yet: becoming parents.
Eaton took over the helm of “Masterpiece Theatre” in 1985 and in 2008 helped launch “Masterpiece,” which has attracted a new generation of viewers.
Not only is she responsible for bringing “Sherlock” to American audiences, but she’s also helped get “Downton Abbey” to American viewers.
In 2011, she was named one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People.”
Eaton says that when she first heard the idea to do another version of Sherlock Holmes, five years ago, she wasn’t too sure.
“Then I saw that Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch were signed on,” she says. “It was so good that BBC decided not to air the pilot. They went back to do the same story and make it a series. It was brilliant.”
As for hints at season four, Eaton remains tightlipped.
“This new season is very interesting,” she says. “They take the show somewhere you wouldn’t expect. I don’t mean location. There’s a new layer of emotion that they are peeling back.”
Having another show do well is a feather in Eaton’s hat.
“We ride the whirlwind,” she says. “The shows that we have are tremendously powerful. They capture the imagination. It’s what you dream of as a producer. Buzz is continuing around ‘Sherlock,’ and that’s the best way to grow a show in today’s digital world.”
“Sherlock” is written and created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Moffat and Gatiss say, “Whatever else we do, wherever we all go, all roads lead back to Baker Street, and it always feels like coming home. Ghosts of the past are rising in the lives of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, and terror and tragedy are looming. This is the story we’ve been telling from the beginning, and it’s about to reach its climax.”