Sherlock creator says that new season brought the cast 'to tears'

The popular British dramatic TV series Sherlock won big at the Emmys, cementing its already popular appeal. It bagged three awards, including two acting honours for the show’s lead actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman and one writing award for its creator, Steven Moffat.

Moffat dropped huge hints about the highly anticipated fourth season of the show while he was backstage at the Emmy Awards ceremony. The show will begin shooting around January 2015, the same time science fiction drama Doctor Who begins filming (which is also written by Moffat).

Moffat claimed that Sherlock’s new season would top the previous one in terms of shock value, saying that the it was even more heart-stopping than the third season, which ended with the unexpected resurrection of a character who was presumed to be dead.

“We have a plan to top it — and actually I do think our plan is devastating,” he teased according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter . “We practically reduced our cast to tears by telling them the plan. Honestly, Mark [Gatiss> and myself are so excited with what we’ve got coming up, probably more excited than we’ve ever been about Sherlock. … Honestly I think we can [top the last season>.”

Moffat also spoke of the appreciation that Sherlock received from the Emmys in its third year.

“We’ve won outside of America, which is a place," Moffat deadpanned. “We were just starting to think that that phase of our lives was dying down because as shows get older they don’t win as often — just like people. We’re delighted that we’ve made it here and hopefully this gets more people watching. That’d be great.”

However, he was tight-lipped about when the new episodes would appear on television adding that,  “When they go out is up to the BBC,  and I am their loyal servant. I simply do what they ask me.”

Moffat also said that the creative team behind Sherlock will most likely return for every season. He admitted that while the actors were committed to other projects, they’d ensure that series remained a priority.  “What’s happening with Sherlock is unusual,” he admitted. “We will keep coming back to it.”

Moffat also joked about Benedict Cumberbatch’s absence at the Emmys, saying he was “too big to come to the Emmys.”

“Give him hell for that,” he joked.