Well, we might have spoken too soon this morning, as PBS kicked off its Television Critics Association afternoon session on scripted dramas with the Sherlock season four teaser, which recently made its debut at Comic-Con. This is what PBS executive producer Rebecca Eaton announced after showing the trailer: The series returns in 2017 with three Sherlock movies, “and that’s all I can say.” Not much more information than the words that kick off the trailer: “Something’s coming. Maybe it’s Moriarty. Maybe it’s not,” but hey, we’ll take it.
Eaton was much more forthcoming about some other upcoming dramas, as PBS tries to land on a series that will be its new Downton Abbey. Poldark’s second season debuts in the U.S. on September 25; a huge hit in the U.K., the show features Aidan Turner as the anguished title character, torn between his wife and his first love against the backdrop of 18th-century Cornwall. In January, Victoria debuts, with Doctor Who alum Jenna Coleman as the 18-year-old brand-new queen of England, filmed in a detailed reproduction of Buckingham Palace. Like Poldark, it’s also in the steamy romance category; a preview of Victoria’s ballroom dance with Albert should definitely please all the Lady Mary/Matthew fans out there.
Eaton also announced that PBS will be co-producing King Charles The Third, based on a play that imagines that Queen Elizabeth II has died, leaving Prince Charles (Tim Pigott-Smith) to take over the crown. Other upcoming series include Indian Summers, a picturesque drama that features—guess what—a romantic triangle, and The Durrells In Corfu, about an ex-pat British family struggling to make a life on an idyllic Greek island, leaving us to wonder whether English people in PBS series ever live anywhere that doesn’t look like a postcard.