Sherlock finale – Our verdict

With 'Sherlock', co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have gripped the nation in a way TV shows over the decades have rarely achieved. The perfect blend of contemporary setting, classic characters, brilliant acting, unparalleled fun and cunning smarts have turned this updated take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books into the most compelling screen-version of the character's tales to date.

Each of the preceding five episodes of the show had built to last night's epic crescendo, which saw Sherlock pitted once again against his fierce rival Jim Moriarty, this time with everything on the line for the genius detective.

Having been arrested for the "crime of the century" as it is described, Moriarty (the loopy and sinister Andrew Scott) begins a game with the aim for wreaking havoc on the master detective's life. Ruining him professionally and as a man before causing his eventual demise. It was an unrelenting and twisting tale.

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It is one thing to write a cliffhanger essentially tacked on like the swimming pool face off at the end of the last series, but last night was entirely different.

The whole episode built towards that particular twist, with clues alluding that it was on the way strewn about for the benefit of eagle-eyed viewers. The mannequin hanging in Baker Street indicating a dummy suicide for example. There were also plenty of possibilities as to how Holmes pulled it off littered through the show.

Sherlock said that he "needed" Molly (to help fake his death?), he wanted Watson to stand in a particular spot (so the cyclist would hit him giving Sherlock time to do whatever he did?). Then there were other possibilities, for example the children Moriarty kidnapped were terrified of Sherlock because the evil mastermind had led them to believe he was their captor. Did he have a Sherlock mask of some kind? If so, Holmes could have worked this out and acquired it for the "suicide". There are many possibilities.

To say the writing has been perfect throughout the show would be a lie but it is still a step above most of the programmes we see on television nowadays. Last night's episode however was easily the best so far. A perfectly paced mystery loaded with hidden clues and red herrings.

This is less a mystery show than it is a rip-roaring adventure. Show boss Moffat is sometimes a little full of himself but it is merely the kind of self-confidence that a writer needs to produce something with the aim of baffling thousands.

If there are two keys to the show's success and one is the writing, then the other is without question the chemistry between Holmes and his friend Dr. John Watson. The bond and interplay between the two characters is crucial to every iteration of the tale and right now we're lucky enough to have two pairs of actors who meet the criteria brilliantly in Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman on the small screen and Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law on the big.

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Both Cumberbatch and Freeman were on fine form last night, showing everyone why their time as TV actors won't be extending far beyond a third series of the show. Both have huge film careers in their immediate future — the pair are both part of the two 'Hobbit' films being made by Peter Jackson, in which Freeman takes the lead.

Cumberbatch has other big roles on the horizon, most notably as the villain in J.J. Abrams next 'Star Trek' movie, which films in coming months. They will both return for a third series of 'Sherlock' however, as Moffat himself confirmed on Twitter shortly after 10:30 last night saying, "Yes of course there's going to be a third series - it was commissioned at the same time as the second. Gotcha!"

When it does come back for what is likely to be a final series, anticipation will be even higher than when this series got up and running thanks to that devilish twist ending.
Most of all however, it's nice to know that you don't have to be a costume drama to capture the imagination of the country.