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LONDON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- The stars of Sherlock are opening up about the death of a major character on Sunday's Season 4 premiere. The 90-minute installment saw Amanda Abbington's former assassin turned private investigator Mary Watson take a bullet for the show's titular sleuth, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, shortly after giving birth to her first child with new husband John Watson, played by Martin Freeman. Mary joined the series' ensemble in Season 3.
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"I was pleasantly surprised that Mary had the end that she got just because it was surprising," Freeman said in a video posted on social media Monday. "I like being shocked and I was shocked."
"I knew from very early on that Mary was going to die; they were going to kill her off," Abbington revealed. "As an actor you sort of crave that dramatic... that kind of drama. So, being shot in an aquarium by the secretary of some lady, it is so exciting to do that."
About 8.1 million viewers in the United Kingdom tuned in for the season premiere on the BBC. The show also returned in the United States on PBS, but the viewership numbers were not immediately available.
Freeman and Abbington, who are the parents of two children in real life, recently announced they had split up after 16 years together.
