The BBC has confirmed the exact start date for Sherlock‘s third series.

Series 3’s opening episde, ‘The Empty Hearse’, will air on Wednesday 1 January 2014 on BBC One.

An actual empty hearse has been driving around London this morning, with the date announced in flowers.

Co-creator Mark Gatiss has also tweeted: “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective. Much missed by friends & family. In *living* memory. Jan 1st 2014! #SherlockLives”

Episode 2, ‘The Sign Of Three’, will air just four days later on Sunday 5 January and Series 3’s finale, ‘His Last Vow’, will air on Sunday 12 January.

Written by Gatiss, ‘The Empty Hearse’ sees Benedict Cumberbatch return as Sherlock Holmes alongside Martin Freeman as John Watson, with Amanda Abbington making her debut as Mary Morstan in the episode. The official synopsis for the episode was announced earlier this week.

> Find out all the details on Series 3 so far in our summary.

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> Order Series 3 on DVD on Amazon.

> Buy the Series 1-2 boxset on Amazon.

Watch the Series 3 teaser trailer…