Or he'll ask Holmes out on a date again

Actually it was David Tennant who was rumoured.

Two rumours: 1) David Tennant was spotted on location with Martin Freeman. 2) A review saying an ex-Doctor gives an uncredited voice-over during a tense scene in the episode.

Fans of Tennant / Who put two and two together and worried/hoped (depending on whether you like the guy or not) that it would be Tennant popping up at the end.

I'm glad it wasn't. Restored the mystery for me, and its too soon for Tennant after leaving Who to take up another iconic role. Would have been predictable.

My only gripe with Andrew Scott's portrayal was that his sing-song voice detracted from his menace ("Daddy's had enough now!", "No you won't!") Other than that I thought he was great

Thanks for the welcome Jackiebo. And I agree with you completely - there is not a chance that this man can be Moriarty - as you and many others have pointed out - the grammatical error made that clear. I like the ending offered by you and others that next season will either start by showing the red dot move to Jim or Sherlock explaining to Watson why he is dead.

I just hope we don't have to wait too long for the next installment

And I hope the next run has episodes of the same length - I will be cross if they try to shorten it to an hour.

Yeah, I've no issues with the actor - I just didn't like that they'd decided to channel The Riddler for his performance.

The most menacing villains are always the ones who are most 'still' - think Alan Rickman in anything! Manic, wide-eyed characters just don't work for me. And especially not for someone like Moriarty.

What is "channelling"? Is that the latest media-speak?

No no, its not the accent, its things like "Is that a Browning in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" and the camp voices "oh nooo you won't" that I thought let the character down.

Oh, I would have loved Alan Rickman to be Moriarty! He's such a delicious villain. *swoon*

both of those lines totally jarred with me - Moriarty just wouldn't say the former, modernised or not!!

rather stupidly, I hadn't realised Moriarty is an Irish name.

I liked Scott's 'sing-song' voice. It added to the sense of unpredictability, and devilment.

Fantastic news!

I have just watched the final episode of Sherlock and all I have to say is that was bloody amazing. The last 15 seconds had me on the edge of my seat, and that cliffhanger will haunt me until the series returns next year. Fantastic show!

I've seen the first 2, recorded the last one, but thought the first 2 were brilliant. I really like the modern day feel to it and I like alot how they show us what Sherlock sees. Looking forward to watching the last one and the new series.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think the manic villains can be terrifying (such as the Joker in the Dark Knight) but I think it takes a very skilled actor to pull it off believably.

My problem with Moriarty was that I didn't find him menacing in the slightest. He just came across incredibly camp and silly. There was no 'evil glint' in his eyes, nothing that suggested he was a serious mastermind criminal. Maybe that's the whole point though - we have stereotypes in our heads of what villains should be like, and Moffat wanted to show that psychopaths don't always have to act in a certain characteristic way.

The TV critic in The Sun reckons this programme went off track in the second episode due to the usual BBC executive box-ticking, specifically the "kung-fu girlfriend who's smarter than the boys".

Personally I think this programme has not been ruined by this like most have on the BBC (Dr Who, Robin Hood, The Deep etc) and it is time dramatists were left free of this kind of interference from executives and diversity advisors.

The most convincing villains are ordinary people like the killers in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and the original version of The Vanishing.

Over the top villains are less scary because they don't seem real, this is more comforting to the audience and the reason the villains in most Hollywood action movies are so over the top.

Half way through the final episode I kinda hoped that we wouldn't see Moriarty. I think they should have kept the mystery going. Maybe they didn't know if they'd be recommissioned?
I also thought it might be interesting if they made him a she. But then there is still some 'sexual tension' anyway.
I've pre-ordered the DVD, couldn't help it.

I've got my fingers crossed for this. Really, it's the only way I can see Sherlock and Watson getting out of their predicament - unless 'Moriarty' has another massive mood-swing again.

Over the top villains can be less scary but like the OP said if the actor can carry it off they can be terrifying (like Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight) but the ordinary people villains can also be terrifying.

That sounds like a much better nemesis for Sherlock Holmes than some wacky, spontaneous psycho. Still, I'm going to try and give this Moriarty a chance, now the initial shocks over maybe it will make more sense why Moffat chose to make Moriarty this way.

Andrew sScott's a fantastic actor. Stop bleating like a load of old women. David Tenant cant act his way out of a paper bag. He's all goggle eyes and gurning.

And me!!!


That is true. It also depends heavily on the script and direction.

In general though, I prefer a villain not to be so manic, because I like believing that they're genuinely in control of a situation.


Not everyone who disliked Scott's performance wanted Tennant!

O the original version of the vanishing is my all time scariest film I still go cold when i think of him

I couldn't care less who played him I didn't even know he was going to make an appearance. But when he did I almost burst out laughing. If he is such a great actor he sure didn't show that in the 5 minutes he got. However, thankfully Benedict and Martin did. What is terrible is that the BBC only had faith in this show to make a miserly 3 episodes. Fantastic show might not see it again for at least a year!

Oddly enough, after watching Andrew Scott's portrayal I could only imagine that he'd been shown some footage of David Tennant as the Doctor and told: "Play it like that, but evil".

If anyone's as obsessed with this show as I already am, then there's a lot of pics and gifs from the series on tumblr. A page called **** yeah sherlock.

I just spent ages looking at them all