BBC confirms second series for 'Sherlock'

The BBC has confirmed that Sherlock, its modern spin on the Sherlock Holmes stories, is to return for a second series. Three more episodes of the show are to be made and screened in Autumn 2011, following the success of the first series which attracted around nine million viewers when it was shown over the summer. Sherlock, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson, is also due to be screened on US TV. "There'll be baffling new puzzles, old friends and new enemies - whether on two, or four, legs," said co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat. "And we might well be seeing the cold master of logic and reason unexpectedly falling. But in love? Or over a precipice? Who can tell?" The show is one of several new commissions for BBC One which also include new episodes of the detective drama Luther. "Sherlock was the hit of the summer, Luther the most memorable new detective on the block," said BBC One controller Jay Hunt. "I am delighted they will both be returning to BBC One."

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.