Yahoo News BBC to launch "full investigation" into Sherlock leak
The BBC has launched an investigation into how the final episode of Sherlock season 4 found its way online.
'The Final Problem', which aired last night (January 15), became one of Sherlock's, erm, final problems, after a Russian-language version of the finale was illegally leaked online.
The leak featured a brief continuity announcement linking it to Russia's Channel One, which owns the rights to show the programme in the country.
A spokesman for the BBC confirmed: "BBC Worldwide takes breaches or our stringent content security protocols very seriously and we have initiated a full investigation into how this leak occurred."
The Beeb's investigation follows the news that the divisive episode - which Digital Spy thought was "oddly anti-climactic" - drew in its lowest-ever overnight ratings.
Related: Mark Gatiss reveals the Sherlock episode that was planned, then abandoned
Viewing figures suggest that around 5.9m tuned in to watch Sherlock's conclusion, down considerably on the 8.1m who tuned in to see season 4's first instalment on New Year's Day.
Although the series ended with the door left ajar for future episodes, Sherlock's writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have admitted the show's run could end right here.
"We're not planning it to be [the final series] but it might be, it's possible, and we could end it there," Moffat said.
"We couldn't have ended it on any of the previous series, but they always ended on walloping great cliffhangers!"
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