The season three premiere of the drama drew 9.2 million viewers.
After almost two years, Sherlock made its return to BBC on Wednesday. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the detective drama drew the biggest-overnight-audience since its launch. The 90-minute episode called The Empty Hearse was the most watched episode ever in the U.K.
The New Year’s Day episode attracted 9.2 million viewers in the 9 p.m. to 10:25 p.m. time slot. These numbers outnumbered with nearly half a million viewers than the opening episode of the second season.
BBC One had also released a mini-episode on Christmas Eve called Many Happy Returns and as of December 31st it had been viewed over 1.5 million times on BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer. There were also millions of views on YouTube as reported by Deadline.
The next episode of Sherlock, starring starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, will air in the U.K. on January 5 and will be titled The Sign of Three. According to THR, the Sherlock episode was the best performing drama of the Christmas period in the U.K, beating the audiences for the special episodes of Downton Abbey, Doctor Who or EastEnders.
The third season of the show will air in the U.S. on January 19 on PBS.