The struggle goes on in 21st century London as the updated team of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson battle the worst that modern criminality has to offer, including a computer-savvy arch-villain who wants to rule the world.

MASTERPIECE MYSERY! presents Sherlock, Series 2, airing in three thrilling episodes on Sundays, May 6, 13, and 20, 8 to 9:30 p.m. on WTVP-HD. Benedict Cumberbatch (War Horse, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) returns as the world’s foremost consulting detective, with Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, The Office UK) as the stalwart, if edgy, Dr. John Watson, and Andrew Scott (Lennon Naked) as the unassuming mastermind of evil, Jim Moriarty.

Guest stars for the new season include Lara Pulver (True Blood) as Irene Adler, the only woman who ever kindled the embers of passion in Holmes; and Russell Tovey (Little Dorrit) as the character who speaks the immortal line, “Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!” Except the hound he means is not just big…

Critics were astounded by Sherlock, Series 1, calling it “wonderfully weird” (Wall Street Journal), “unabashedly entertaining” (USA Today), “absorbedly witty and brisk” (Washington Post), “tremendously clever” (Entertainment Weekly), and just plain “delightful” (TV Guide).

Benedict Cumberbatch was judged “a Sherlock for the 21st century” (San Francisco Chronicle), and Martin Freeman was called “masterfully deadpan…far more than a mere foil to Holmes” (Zap2it).

The returning cast includes Rupert Graves (The Forsyte Saga, God on Trial) as Inspector Lestrade, the man nominally in charge of crime solving in London; Mark Gatiss (Sense & Sensibility) as Sherlock’s cloak-and-dagger older brother, Mycroft; and Una Stubbs (Till Death Us Do Part) as Sherlock’s infinitely patient landlady, Mrs. Hudson.

Each of the three episodes in the new season is pegged to a classic Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle—delightfully, weirdly, wittily, and briskly updated, of course:

• A Scandal in Belgravia—(May 6, 8 p.m.)
  Picking up from last season’s gripping conclusion, Sherlock and Watson are plunged into a case of blackmail involving crafty dominatrix Irene Adler, whose motto is “know when you are beaten.” It seems she has incriminating photos of a session with a British royal. Can she outsmart Sherlock at his own game—and at a battle he is ill prepared to wage: love?

• The Hounds of Baskerville—(May 13, 8 p.m.)
  Sherlock and Watson pursue the trail of the Baskerville experiments—top-secret government research on genetically engineered gigantic animals for military use. Or so it is rumored. Whatever the truth, something big is up on the moors.

• The Reichenbach Fall—(May 20, 8 p.m.)
  In what may be the climatic case of his career, Sherlock faces Moriarty’s diabolical plot to “get Sherlock,” which begins innocently enough when the criminal mastermind breaks into the Crown Jewels. As the scheme unfolds, Moriarty poses the “final problem,” and a tabloid reporter reveals the “shocking truth” about the great detective.

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Sherlock, Series 2 is a Hartswood Films Production for BBC Wales, co-produced with MASTERPIECE. It was created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The director is Paul McGuigan (A Scandal in Belgravia, The Hounds of Baskerville) and Toby Haynes (The Reichenbach Fall). The screenwriters are Steven Moffat (The Scandal in Belgravia), Mark Gatiss (The Hounds of Baskerville) and Steve Thompson (The Reichenbach Fall). The series producer is Sue Vertue.The executive producers are Beryl Vertue, Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE on PBS.