Like many people, I tuned into the BBC's first series of new Sherlock Holmes adventures - Sherlock - out of curiosity.

Steven Moffat (Doctor Who; Coupling) and Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen; Poirot; Doctor Who) were involved and anything they do is on my “Check This Out” list.

I don’t have a great love for the classic Sherlock Holmes of Arthur Conan Doyle - I grew up watching Basil Rathbone’s Holmes fight Nazis so everything’s fair game with me.

So I watched all three episodes of Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and loved them all. Brilliantly told, well-acted, modernized, and yet in keeping the parts of Holmes that I enjoy, and dropping in knowing nods to the Doyle stories.

It really is a lesson in how to take a potentially dusty old character and make it relevant to a modern audience without destroying it by adding a lot of explosions and special effects. Or giving him a dog or a kid. Or having him hunt aliens.

When they left the first series with a cliffhanger (and the appearance of Moriarity) in “The Great Game,” I was disappointed only in how long I’d have to wait for them to pick up with the second series.

And now it’s back!

A brand new episode starts on Sunday night January 1: A Scandal In Belgravia. I’d be there to watch, except that it’s debuting in England and won’t be coming to America until later this year when it pops up on PBS.

Curse you, BBC! You're the Moriarity of my satellite dish!

I keep thinking that if the British had won the Revolutionary War, I’d be eating bangers and mash right now, but at least I could watch the new Sherlock.

Good luck you lads across the pond. Let me know how it goes!

[Artwork: Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson in Sherlock]