Colm McCarthy - the veteran TV director acclaimed for his work on ‘Hustle’, ‘Murphy's Law’, ‘The Tudors’ and ‘Spooks’ - has been confirmed to direct one of the three feature-length episodes of the much anticipated third season of BBC’s Sherlock, which begins shooting this Monday 18th March.
Colm is the son of prolific Cork actor, playwright and screenwriter Sean McCarthy - who worked at the Abbey Theatre and wrote several episodes of Glenroe during a long and illustrious career.
Sherlock’s popularity and international recognition soared following the casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy, Peter Jackson’s long awaited prequels to Lord of The Rings. Freeman’s co-star, Benedict Cumberbatch will also appear in the second Hobbit film - ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ - providing the voice of the titular fire-breathing dragon.
Most recently, Colm McCarthy directed ‘Endeavour’, the Inspector Morse prequel; two episodes of ‘Ripper Street’, which was shot in Dublin; and a forthcoming episode of Doctor Who entitled ‘The Bells of St John’ set to premiere on BBC One on 30th March.
The latter will introduce a new enemy for the Doctor, played by Matt Smith, as he discovers something evil lurking within the Wi-Fi network in London.
Sherlock last appeared on our screens in January 2012 with ‘The Reichenbach Fall’ and featured strongly at this year’s IFTAs, with Dublin actor Andrew Scott winning an IFTA for Best Supporting Actor in TV this year for his role as Sherlock’s arch-nemesis Moriarty.
Sherlock season 3 will air on BBC One later this year.
