Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, nine things we learned

Benedict Cumberbatch once more donned the great detective's flapping overcoat for a giddily-anticipated feature length return to Baker Street

Could Sherlock keep the Holmes fire burning? That was the real mystery as Benedict Cumberbatch once more donned the great detective's flapping overcoat for a giddily-anticipated feature length return to Baker Street. It was by no means elementary that The Abominable Bride would live up to a drum-roll of hype that, even amid the clamour and chaos of Christmas, has been deafening. Two years off our screens, had the sleuthing sociopath retained pole position as our favourite crime-solving weirdo?

We needn't have fretted. From the first dramatic shot of Holmes, whipping a corpse with his back to camera ("to establish how long after death bruising is possible"), it was obvious the magic had endured. Sherlock was back – and as compellingly eccentric as we remembered. There was a new (old) setting, with Victorian London seemingly replacing the 21st century backdrop of the original series, and a spooky storyline owing more to classic gothic literature than to Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. Yet the chemistry between Holmes and Martin Freeman's Dr John Watson fizzled as thrillingly as ever, the script by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss brimming with wry exchanges and comedic misunderstandings.

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 24/11/2015 — Programme Name: Sherlock — TX: 01/01/2016 — Episode: The Abominable Bride (No. 1) — Picture Shows: **STRICTLY EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 24TH NOVEMBER 2015** Sherlock Holmes (BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH) — (C) Hartswood Films — Photographer: Robert Viglasky

Sherlock, The Abominable Bride, review: 'TV in 2016 just got off to a superlative start'

Plus, with the one-off nature of the endeavour requiring an entire story arc to be crammed into just 90 minutes, the action clipped by at whip-smart pace. As ever, the chief pleasure lay in interplay between the emotionally tin-eared Holmes and a perpetually perplexed Watson as they tried (and generally failed) to understand the world from the other's perspective. But after the smug, self-celebratory tenor of the most recent season of Sherlock (from 2014), it was a joy, too, to watch the perfectly mismatched duo get stuck into a properly knotty whodunit – even if a flurry of time-hopping convolutions at the death muddied matters somewhat. Here is what we learned.

1. Cumberbatch Remains The Definitive Modern Holmes

Cumberbatch was Cumber-back, in the role that set him on the trajectory to stardom. Frankly, he had been too long away. While he has gone on to dizzying over-achievement in the movies, many viewers will feel this is where he belonged – trading droll wisecracks with Martin Freeman's Watson while enmeshed in one of Moffat's gloriously overcooked brain-twisters. He was visibly relishing reconnecting with Holmes too – his eyes twinkling with delight as he reprised that uncanny portrayal of Sherlock as a calculating machine disguised as a human being.

2. The Nineteenth Century Backdrop Worked A Charm

It's often forgotten now, but when Sherlock debuted in 2010, the modern setting was perceived as crucial to its appeal. Few characters have been resuscitated with such tiresome frequency as Conan Doyle's iconic crime fighter and the choice of contemporary London as a backdrop was regarded as a vital innovation on the part of show-runner Moffatt. Of course, we soon discovered that the real magic was the dynamic between Cumberbatch and Freeman and this element was preserved wonderfully as the New Year special whooshed back to 1895. Amid the picturesque gloom of gothic London, their banter retained its sparkle while the absence of the internet and smartphones permitted Holmes's genius to shine even more brightly. He seemed twice as smart now that none of the other characters could second-guess him by sneakily consulting Wikipedia.

3. The Storyline Was Riper Than A Banana Cart On A Hot Day – But Who Cared?
A blood-spattered bride blew her brains out, then apparently returned as a gun-wielding ghoul and dispatched her husband ("it's a shot gun wedding," she cackled). Against all logic, Emelia Ricoletti had defied death and mastered the secret of bilocation (her corpse was mouldering in the mortuary at the time of her spouse's killing). Holmes refused to countenance a supernatural explanation — even as Ricoletti was linked to a spree of subsequent husband-slayings.

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 24/11/2015 — Programme Name: Sherlock — TX: 01/01/2016 — Episode: The Abominable Bride (No. 1) — Picture Shows: **STRICTLY EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 24TH NOVEMBER 2015** Mrs Hudson (UNA STUBBS) — (C) Hartswood Films — Photographer: Robert Viglasky

4. It Was All A Dream

The shaggy tale was revealed to be a cold case that had been on ice for over 100 years and which present day Sherlock had attempted to solve by journeying deep into his "mind palace". This was divulged after in an imaginary confrontation with his nemesis Moriarty (Andrew Scott), who shot himself through the mouth yet lived. The sequence took on a nightmarish aspect as the super villain turned to display a vast gaping hole in the rear of his head and cackled ("would a comb over work?"). Snapping back to reality, Holmes found himself on the jet into which he'd been unceremoniously bundled at the end of Sherlock series three. He had a real life mystery to solve – the apparent return of Moriarty – but could not let go of his obsession with the Ricoletti killings.

We had expected some dramatic twists en route to a resolution (Moffat and Gatiss had not allowed preview screenings in order to keep a lid on spoilers). But was this a thrilling kink in the tale – or desperate recourse to the oldest parlour trick in the television dramatist's repertoire? Opinions will doubtless divide down the middle. In fact, we expect Twitter is imploding right now.

Sherlock…Programme Name: Sherlock — TX: 01/01/2014 — Episode: n/a (No. n/a) — Embargoed for publication until: 07/12/2013 — Picture Shows: +++PUBLICATION OF THIS IMAGE IS STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01 HOURS SATURDAY DECEMBER 7TH, 2013+++ — (C) Hartswood Films — Photographer: Robert Viglasky

5. It Was Really A Horror Story Masquerading as A Mystery

“Horror is a very big part of Sherlock Holmes,” co-writer Gatiss told USA Today recently. This proved a signifiant tip-off, as Dream Sherlock and Imaginary Watson were sucked into a spooky whodunit in the richest tradition of M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu. Nobody will have gone to bed braced for a sleepless night – but more than a few may have experienced a tingle of disquiet. A scene in which the "undead" bride stalked her latest intended victim through a mist-shrouded maze was, in particular, a triumph of gilded creepiness. Who'd have thought a wedding-veil looming in the gloom could chill so deeply?

6. There Was No Mucking About

Five minutes in, Holmes and Watson were having their momentous first meeting – cut short because Sherlock had to dash to a hanging in Wandsworth ("I take a professional interest") and the duo were soon off solving mysteries together. Straight away we understood there was to be no "origin story" shilly-shallying. The game was afoot from the outset.

7. Moffat and Gatiss Still Write Some of the Smartest Dialogue in British Drama

The zingers came thick and fast. "There is a woman in my sitting room – is this intentional?", "Suicide street theatre, murder by corpse – Lestrade you're spoiling us", "It is NEVER twins Watson!" Indeed, the dialogue was eclipsed only by the fat suit Gatiss donned as Sherlock's corpulent brother Mycroft (he and Holmes had wagered how long it would take him to eat himself into the grave – or at least they had in Sherlock's fevered dreamscape).

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 24/11/2015 — Programme Name: Sherlock — TX: 01/01/2016 — Episode: The Abominable Bride (No. 1) — Picture Shows: **STRICTLY EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 24TH NOVEMBER 2015** The Bride (NATASHA O’KEEFFE) — (C) Hartswood Films — Photographer: Robert Viglasky

8. It Came Together in the End (Sort Of)

"Excellent – superb theatre. I applaud the spectacle," said Holmes as he interrupted a gathering of the cultists behind the Ricoletti killings. The "corpse bride", we learned, had been conjured via lookalikes, creative make-up, and drawing room sleight of hand. Viewers will have have echoed Sherlock's sentiment – even if the big reveal that the killers were a vengeful cabal of suffragettes felt random and tacked on. But there was another twist as Sherlock delved too deep into his mind palace and found himself locked in stand-off with Moriarty, at the fateful Reichenbach Falls. "When it comes to unarmed combat at the edge of a precipice you're going into the water," promised Sherlock. Actually, it was pretend-Watson who saved the day while Holmes yanked himself out of his retro reverie by following Moriarty over the edge.

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 24/11/2015 — Programme Name: Sherlock — TX: 01/01/2016 — Episode: The Abominable Bride (No. 1) — Picture Shows: **STRICTLY EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 24TH NOVEMBER 2015** Mary Watson (AMANDA ABBINGTON) — (C) Hartswood Films — Photographer: Robert Viglasky

9. The Stage Was Set For The Next Series Proper

Sherlock is to return in 18 months or so and, as he snapped awake, the detective had a premonition of the challenges awaiting. "Of course Moriarty is dead," he said. "And I know exactly what he's going to do next." That familiar musical refrain swooped in and you wished it was 2017 already.

A Study in Pink (2010) Veteran military medic Dr John Watson meets genius consulting detective Sherlock Holmes for the first time and finds him on the trail of a pill-popping serial killer taxi driver who works for Moriarty. Loosely based on A Study in Scarlet.

The Blind Banker (2010) Called in by an old friend to investigate a break in at a city bank, Sherlock stumbles upon murder and heavily encoded mystery as he and Watson pursue a gang of Chinese smugglers desperate to get their hands on a stolen priceless treasure.

The Great Game (2010) Commissioned by Mycroft to investigate the death of a government employee Sherlock solves a series of linked mysteries that culminate in his first-face-to-face encounters with his nemesis Moriarty.

A Scandal in Belgravia (2012) The great deducer meets a great seducer as Sherlock falls hard for the charms of dominatrix and ruthless blackmailer Irene Adler (Lara Pulver) in an episode sizzling with unexpected sexual tension.

The Hounds of Baskerville (2012) Sherlock and Watson help a man whose father was supposedly killed by a monstrous hound on Dartmoor, and uncover an MOD conspiracy to develop a hallucinogenic bio-weapon.

The Reichenbach Fall (2012) Moriarty uses a powerful new weapon to turn Sherlock’s new-found fame against him. In a memorable rooftop finale, Moriarty appears to blow his own brains out and Sherlock jumps to certain death… Or does he?

The Empty Hearse (2014) Two years on from his reported death, Sherlock reappears – to find still grieving pal Watson is now in a relationship with Mary Morstan (Amanda Abbington). While John is kidnapped by persons unknown, Sherlock uncovers a terrorist plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

The Sign of Three (2014) On John and Mary's wedding day, awkward best man Sherlock uncovers a plot to murder one of John's old Army friends, Major Sholto, at the reception.

His Last Vow (2014) Sherlock discovers that Mary is a deadly former assassin while trying to retrieve compromising letters from the evil “Napoleon of blackmail” Charles Augustus Magnussen. Sherlock's efforts to trap Magnussen backfire and he ends up killing him. Banished from Britain by Mycroft, Sherlock is forced to return when his old foe Moriarty appears to return from the grave.

The Abominable Bride (2016) Set in 1895, Holmes and Watson investigate the mysterious resurrection of Thomas Ricoletti’s wife in a story inspired by Holmes's throwaway reference to the case of "Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife".