Late last week, Entertainment Weekly published a lengthy interview with Steven Moffat, the writer/director/producer who currently helms Doctor Who and Sherlock (Moffat co-created Sherlock with Mark Gatiss). You can read the piece here – Moffat throws some shade at Elementary (which is totally unnecessary because Elementary is really good and a different beast altogether), he previews the four season/series of Sherlock and he talks a lot about fan-fiction and how brilliant a lot of it is. Moffat says the fourth series – which they haven’t even filmed yet, for the love of God – will be “more of an emotional upheaval.” He also seems to be saying that the fans have “missed” some big question that will be answered. Anyway, the piece is like nerd p0rn for Sherlock-loonies. As is this, Moffat’s discussion about whether Sherlock really is gay.

A few months ago, the rumors started again: Did Benedict Cumberbatch just out Sherlock as gay?! At issue was a comment the Sherlock star made on Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist podcast when comparing the great detective and another iconic British character, Doctor Who. “They’ve got different dress senses, different taste in the sex of their partners…,” the actor said.

Now, most would probably interpret that as a reference to Sherlock and The Doctor’s procedural partners on their respective shows: Dr. Watson is a man, while The Doctor’s companion is a woman. But some thought that Cumberbatch was hinting that Sherlock is gay, a misconception that’s the focus of plenty of online fanfiction, and that the show occasionally itself plays with. (See, for example, the season 3 fantasy scene above between Sherlock and Moriarty.)

Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat wants to set the record straight, so to speak, once and for all.

“We walk into that one all the time,” Moffat tells EW. “It’s a funny thing when a character for over 100 years has been saying, ‘I don’t do that at all.’ He’s been saying it over 100 years! He’s not interested in [sex]. He’s willfully staying away from that to keep his brain pure—a Victorian belief, that. But everyone wants to believe he’s gay. He’s not gay. He’s not straight. And Doctor Watson is very clear that he prefers women. People want to fantasize about it. It’s fine. But it’s not in the show.”

[From Entertainment Weekly]

In the Doyle canon, doesn’t Sherlock show SOME interest in women though? There’s Irene, of course, but I’m pretty sure he had some kind of interest in a few other women. I would err on the side of saying the original Sherlock character self-identified as straight but chose to live an asexual life. But I like that Moffat puts it into the “Victorian” context. That really was the idea back then – the Victorians were notorious prudes. You could be in love with someone and never want or need to touch them.

Photos courtesy of WENN.