How did Sherlock survive the fall in series three, and what happened at St Bart’s Hospital
The long-awaited solution to one of the most intense cliffhangers in recent British television required a brain of Sherlock himself to decipher
SHERLOCK fans were left waiting in desperation for two years wondering what had happened to their favourite detective after his apparent death in the season two finale.
The contemporary version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation seemingly plunged to his death but how did he survive the fall? Here's all you need to know...
How did Sherlock survive the fall in series three?
In the Series three opening episode, The Empty Hearse, Sherlock presented three possible explanations for his miraculous survival.
The initial two solutions turned out to be bright red herrings. The first involved fitting a mask of Sherlock onto the corpse of Moriarty while the man himself was attached safely to a bungee cord.
The second upped the ante by portraying Sherlock and Moriarty as in cahoots to fool John with a makeshift dummy before staring into each other's eyes and leaning in for a kiss.
Sherlock reveals at the end of the episode the third solution that involved an inflatable crashmat, members of Sherlock's homeless network and Molly bloodying up his body and a stress ball to disguise his pulse.
What happened at St Bart’s Hospital?
After Moriarty hoodwinks the criminal underworld, Sherlock is believed to be in possession of a computer code used to bypass all security systems.
After tracking down a journalist Kitty Riley, Sherlock discovers that Moriarty's plot is to convince others that the detective stages all his cases himself.
Moriarty creates a fake identity called Richard Brook, an actor whom Sherlock supposedly paid to pose as a master criminal, and Sherlock becomes a wanted man with a falling media image.
The two have a final showdown on top of St Bart's Hospital in which Moriarty reveals there is no super code and in order to spare John's life, Sherlock must commit suicide.
Moriarty then commits suicide himself to deny Sherlock the knowledge of the abort codes to stop the killings as well as proof of the whole staged identity plot.
With no way to use the fail-safe, Sherlock calls John to claim he was always a fake before swan-diving off the roof.
More Sherlock
Will there be a Sherlock series five?
Producers have indicated that the hit drama hadn't yet finished after Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson solved 'The Final Problem.'
In a Facebook post in January 2017, Steven explained: "Re: Sherlock's future - for those of you asking, it's definitely the end of Chapter One
"Whether we ever get to Chapter Two - our boys consciously living the myth and battling wrong-doers - rather depends on our two stars.
"I'd be slightly surprised if we never made it again. But I've been surprised before."