"Elementary's" Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) are friends -- without benefits. And the burgeoning partners' relationship will remain platonic, promises showrunner Rob Doherty.

"As long as I'm part of this show it's not something I will want to see," he told reporters Saturday (Jan. 12) at the TCA press tour.

"Many people will be desirous of [a romance]," he acknowledges, "there will be that expectation, [but] we love to defy expectations on this show. Mostly because I don't think we need it.

When asked (again) about the reaction of his mate Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the famous consulting detective in "Sherlock," Miller said he "was extremely complimentary -- he sent me some messages when he first saw the show [which was] really, really nice."

But he noted with a laugh:

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have sent me a text message saying, 'You suck.'"

"I saw him at the Emmys," added Liu, "and he was really effusive about the show. The other Watson [Martin Freeman, now starring in 'The Hobbit'] was there, and the two of us took a picture together [as the] two Watsons," joking that she was heading to London "to switch" roles.

Doherty was coy about the status of Sherlock's girlfriend Irene Adler, whom Sherlock believes was murdered by Moriarty. (Her character was also presumed dead in "Sherlock.")

"Irene is alive in my heart," he said. "I'd love to have a face to that name. We've talked in a roundabout way about maybe doing a flashback show ... we definitely want to meet her, so in that sense you will see a living, breathing actress reading lines and portraying her."

"It's a tricky business. We are serious about Moriarty, but in this day and age, it's virtually impossible to stunt [cast] a role and not have everyone in universe know ... We're approaching it as carefully and quietly as we can. It's less fun for me if all of you know who it is and when he'll arrive."