British actor Martin Freeman, who plays Sherlock Holmes' (Benedict Cumberbatch) best friend Dr. John Watson on BBC’s “Sherlock,” said that he loved stepping back in time and dressing up in Victorian attires for the one-off special episode of “Sherlock,” titled “The Abominable Bride,” which is scheduled to air on Jan. 1 in Australia on streaming site Stan.

“It was very nice. It kind of felt like a holiday, like mufti day at school or something,” Freeman told BANG Showbiz, as quoted by the Mirror, when asked whether he and Cumberbatch enjoyed dressing more traditionally.

The 44-year-old British star of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” trilogy has been a series regular on “Sherlock” since its inception in 2010. He said that as the BBC’s hit series “Sherlock” is set in modern Britain, being part of Victorian “Sherlock” felt like a nice nostalgic trip back to the Victorian London of Conan Doyle’s stories.

“I mean, I suppose I never see our version as the true ... our version is in modern dress, you know. So it felt like a nice little detour,” he said, adding, “as soon as you see Ben in the gear and you see me in the gear, we definitely look like Holmes and Watson, as opposed to Sherlock and John.”

The actor clearly enjoyed dressing up like a true Brit. He said, “It was good fun, it was really good fun.”

Meanwhile, writers Mark Gatiss, who also plays Mycroft Holmes on “Sherlock,” and Steven Moffat have talked about the origins of the Victorian special episode. They developed the idea while writing a “Sherlock” sequence in which the pair dressed in the outfits made iconic by their literary predecessors, deerstalker and capes included, according to Digital Spy.

"It started with us thinking, could we justify having a 10-minute bit where they put the togs on, just so we could see them do it? But then we thought, actually, let's not do that. Let's just do it for real,” he was quoted as saying by Digital Spy. “Let's do a whole film and do it properly -- not tongue-in-cheek."

Even Cumberbatch had reservations about travelling back in time, but on seeing the script he realised it was going to be a fun-ride, according to the report.

“Sherlock” special episode airs before the production on the three episodes of “Sherlock” Season 4 begins in spring.

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