Bros Before Holmes: Cumberbatch And Freeman's Relationship Spells Trouble For 'Sherlock' Season 5

While it may be all deerstalkers and mysteries on the BBC's detective show Sherlock, there could be trouble brewing behind the scenes. The modern adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works could be in trouble due to a "frosty" relationship between lead stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

Sherlock, which wrapped its fourth season to an impressive 6.2 million viewers, is one of the channel's best-loved shows, but creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss haved played down the possibility of the show continuing, depending on the Hollywood careers of Cumberbatch and Freeman, as well as their willingness to do another series.

Trouble At Holmes

The two may share a bromance on our screens as the titular Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, but could it all be for show and an impressive paycheck? A source has recently told newspaper The Sun that the pair are "hardly close":

“Benedict and Martin aren’t mates and they don’t spend time together away from the show. They’re professional and very polite to each other but there’s not the warmth you’d expect after filming together for six years. There isn’t a huge desire to come back for another season.”

Despite its popular status at the BBC, there are only 13 episodes of Sherlock, and before Season 4 it had been three years since the last full season aired. Sherlock fans were left hanging after a one-episode stint in January 2016, while Season 4 felt to some like it had lost the spark of its predecessors. There was a neatly wrapped up ending to the finale "The Final Problem," and Moffat told The Independent that he purposely didn't leave the show on a cliffhanger:

“If this is the last time — and I’m not planning on it to be, but it might be — it is possible that we could end it. We couldn’t have ended it on any of the previous series because there was what have been great cliffhangers.”

So, could this signal that Sherlock could already be at the end? Certainly, if Season 4 is the last time that Cumberbatch tackles a case, it seemed like a fitting way to wave off Sherlock and Watson, instead of the cut-short ending that so many shows get nowadays *cough Hannibal *cough*.