National Theatre Live, the international broadcast programme that brings acclaimed stage productions from the UK to cinemas around the world, has just announced some of their upcoming screenings.

Due first, in the later stages of 2013, are further repeated encore screenings of Danny Boyle’s multi award winning production of Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in the alternating roles of Creature and Creator. The hugely popular screenings will be entering their third organised encore from October 31 2013, after the initial recording of the play in 2011. Read more here on the NT Live website, and check out our past review of the play here on our website. 

Then early next year, Mark Gatiss features alongside Tom Hiddleston in the Donmar Warehouse’s production of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. The new production of the play, which begins performances at the theatre in December 2013, will be beamed live into cinemas on January 30 2014. Read more here on the NT Live Website.

On Saturday June 1 2013, a special event was held in Bristol during CrimeFest, the International Crime Fiction Convention. Named ‘Creating Sherlock’, an early afternoon panel saw Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Sue Vertue discuss the inception of the series and the status of production on the third, which is currently on a brief production hiatus until later in the summer. As Steven Moffat noted, in typically amusing fashion while acknowledging the protracted development of the new series around other projects, “We’ve just sort of stopped for a bit while Martin [Freeman] pops back to New Zealand for a bit to film more of The Hobbit. We’re actually going to resume shooting Sherlock next Christmas.” While Mark Gatiss jokingly concluded, “This is an exclusive, as it’s actually going to be nine films.”

By the nature of the event, there was of course a fair amount of repetition in what the panel were able to speak about - in particular, the creation of the series -  which we have previously reported on in our coverage of The Sherlock Masterclass at MGEITF 2012 and The Game Is On: An Afternoon with Mark Gatiss and Friends. So instead, here we present a full selection of the best banter and observation from the creative team.

Read More

Month six of 2013, and that means it’s once again time to solve our monthly anagrams in either Easy or Hard mode to download your desktop calendar. Following feedback, we’ve tried to tailor the answers to be suited to their advertised difficulty! As a hint, both answers relate to the pixelated image above… You will of course have to use your skills of deduction to arrange the letters into the correct order to solve the Sherlock related anagram to gain access to the wallpaper download.

Head over to our website to begin.

Good luck and we hope you have fun unlocking this month’s wallpapers.

After a period of quiet, premium limited edition collectibles manufacturer Big Chief Studios Limited has posted a brief update on their eagerly anticipated and officially licenced Sherlock 1:6 scale collector figures:

“We are also well into development for both Sherlock and Watson 1:6 scale figures, working on costume tailoring and pack design right now. We plan to have these figures made available for pre-order in July. Both figures are scheduled for delivery in Q4 in time for the holidays.”

The original post, which also includes details on the companies’ upcoming Doctor Who product releases, can be seen here.

We’re loving this video by @Heather12ooney entitled ‘Drawing Benedict Cumberbatch’ just brilliant.

To celebrate the conclusion of filming on Sherlock S3E2: The Sign of Three, and to mark the three day Bank Holiday in the UK and Memorial Day weekend in the USA, MX Publishing are offering a 20% discount on three bundled books on Sherlockabilia, our new online store, until 23:59BST on Monday May 27 2013.

The Benedict Bundle contains 3 books – the new unauthorised performance biography Benedict Cumberbatch – In Transition, available here ahead of publication, and the Save Undershaw supporting short story collections The Art of Deduction and Sherlock’s Home – The Empty House. Click each link to learn more about each individual title.

To register the 20% discount, add the Bundle to your cart and then ensure to enter the code SpineofThree in the Promo Code Box on the Shopping Cart Page.

This deal is available worldwide. Your International Shipping costs will appear once you are checking out with Paypal.

Filming has completed today on the second block of Sherlock filming - largely comprising Sherlock S3E2: The Sign of Three - after four weeks of work which began on Monday April 22 2013. The second episode of the third series is written by Stephen Thompson and directed by Colm McCarthy.

Filming of The Sign of Three has taken place in cities in England and Wales familiar to the Sherlock production team, including an extensive period of work in Bristol at the beginning of the schedule. London also once again paid host to the series towards the end of the shoot, while filming itself wrapped on stage in Cardiff just before 20:00BST this evening.

Additional material for S3E1: The Empty Hearse was also shot during the latter stages of this second block of filming, under the direction of Jeremy Lovering.

Production on Sherlock Series Three will now take a scheduled break, to allow cast and crew to fulfil other long planned obligations.

Cast and crew are due to fully reconvene in late July 2013 for filming on the third episode of the series, written by Steven Moffat.

“Thanks Guys… It’s been emotional” - Steve Lawes, 21st May 2013

(From left to right: Steve Lawes, Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Arwel Wyn Jones)

INTRODUCING… SHERLOCKABILIA

We’re excited to bring you the next stage in the Sherlockology experience - our own online store, featuring premium quality products inspired by the BBC Series, as well as a one-stop place to find the Holmes related books of MX Publishing.

The primary aim of Sherlockabilia is not simply selling merchandise however, and we’re going to be brutally honest here.

Sherlockology is a website funded fully from our own pockets, and recently costs have started to mount up. Though we have been relying on kind donations and advertising revenue, costs for maintaining the website continue to rise. So we have decided to open Sherlockabilia, stocked with a growing range of exclusive and varied products, to help fund our server costs, and expenses for the travel we undertake to bring you content on the website like features and reviews. Sherlockology is a website that remains not for profit, and the funds raised from any sales on Sherlockabilia are not going into our wallets. We love running the site and everything that it entails, and wish to keep doing so.

Sherlockabilia is very much a work in progress, and we aim to continue to expand the range we offer in the future.

So take a look around, and do let us know if there’s anything YOU would like us to produce for sale on the store. We hope you like some of the Holmes inspired merchandise we have come up with so far.

We’re particularly fond of a certain blue Scarf, and black umbrella for example….

Visit the store at www.sherlockabilia.com. Most items, with exceptions, ship worldwide. If they require special shipping requirements, the product listing will have further information.

Lovely interview by RedCarpetNewsTV with Steven Moffat at the BAFTA’s this weekend.