Benedict Cumberbatch thought returning 'Sherlock' to the story's original Victorian setting was "madness".
Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes
The 39-year-old actor has played the modern day version of the English detective for three seasons, but the Christmas special 'The Abominable Bride' - which airs on New Year's Day - is set back in 1895 when author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first wrote about the famous sleuth, and Benedict was not happy with the idea at first.
He confessed: "I thought they'd finally lost the plot, jumped the shark, all the other clichés of television gone mad with itself. I thought it was madness."
However, the 'Black Mass' star, who is joined by Martin Freeman as sidekick Dr. Watson, was soon won over by the show's writers and producers.
According to Mirror Online, he said: "They expanded the idea and pitched it to me properly and I think it's fantastic. Absolutely brilliant.
"I don't really know how the fans are going to react to it. I think that's one of the joys of doing it like this."
The festive episode sees London's Baker Street filled with top hats, steam trains and old fashioned cabs, and the actor marveled at delving into the past.
He recalled: "To muck around with a pipe and a deerstalker for real is wonderful. And then, as far as the background goes, the setting, the scenery, all the rest of it, it's just a delight. It always is with period drama. You kind of marvel at it."
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