The highly anticipated season 3 of hit drama "Sherlock" will be broadcast January 1, 2014 in the UK.

Sherlock 3 episode 1 will air on New Year's Day at 9p.m. GMT on BBC One. The new episode will be available to watch online via live stream on BBC One. 

Click here for viewing information in the U.S.on PBS January 14, 2014. 

The official synopsis of the first episode, titled "The Empty Hearse," is as follows:

"In episode one of this new series, two years after the devastating effects of The Reichenbach Fall, Dr John Watson has got on with his life. New horizons, romance and a comforting domestic future beckon. But, with London under threat of a huge terrorist attack, Sherlock Holmes is about to rise from the grave with all the theatricality that comes so naturally to him. It's what his best friend wanted more than anything, but for John Watson it might well be a case of 'be careful what you wish for'! If Sherlock thinks everything will be just as he left it though, he's in for a very big surprise..."

Benedict Cumberbatch will be returning as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as John Watson in the new season, which finally wrapped up filming earlier this year.

Spoilers for the new season point to Watson's wedding to Mary Morstan, with Sherlock as his best man.

The first episode will be about Sherlock's survival after he faked his own death in the finale of season 2 and his reunion with Watson. In a behind-the scenes video, Freeman said: "The main thing I guess we can expect from episode one is how we deal with Sherlock and John being reunited. It's no surprise to anyone who follows the show that Sherlock isn't dead. We know there has to be a reckoning of how he survived that fall, because we've all seen it, John's seen it. He jumped off that roof of Bart's and yet he's alive."

He added, "More interestingly than the how is the why and the meat on those bones of Sherlock having been away and how he comes back and tells John that he's still alive, which is a very dangerous thing to do on many levels, it's dangerous emotionally and it's dangerous physically because he knows John will be immensely upset."

Cumberbatch talks of his excitement of the new season. "Sherlock fans won't be disappointed. The explanation is ingenious, witty and generous. The reunion between Sherlock and Watson was hellishly good fun to film. It's brilliant to be back. On this show we're all spoilt rotten by fantastic plotlines and extraordinary character development."

Sherlock is a British television crime drama with a contemporary update to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. The show was created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson. Six episodes have been produced so far. The first three episodes aired in 2010, and series 2 aired in 2012. Production for series 3 started in March 2013.

Watch the latest trailer below:

Watch a video below of Cumberbatch and Freeman speaking about Sherlock season 3: