'The best part was watching Maggie Thatcher's head get caved in': Sherlock fans brand the destruction of busts of former Prime Minister 'their favourite' thing about first episode as the ending was br
Sherlock fans have called the destruction of busts of Margaret Thatcher the best thing about last nights episode, branded 'ridiculous' by some viewers.
Viewers seemed to like the scenes from The Six Thatchers, which showed slow-motion shots of the statues being destroyed as Sherlock Holmes solved crimes.
But for some, it was the only entertaining thing about the show, which ended with character Mary appearing to move faster than a speeding bullet to save Sherlock.
Sherlock fans have called the destruction of busts of Margaret Thatcher the best thing about last nights episode, branded 'ridiculous' by some viewers
Viewers seemed to like the scenes from The Six Thatchers, which showed slow-motion shots of the statues being destroyed as Sherlock Holmes solved crimes
Many viewers took to Twitter to say how much they enjoyed the busts being smashed, but it was the best thing about it for some
One user, Harry, wrote: 'Best bit of Sherlock was seeing Maggie Thatcher's ceramic head get caved in loads of times,' after the show aired last night.
Another user wrote: 'The only good part of Sherlock was the continued destruction of Margaret Thatcher's face'.
The show had a dramatic finale, with sidekick John Watson's wife Mary dying after taking a bullet for Sherlock, leaving many viewers 'heartbroken'.
However, some branded it 'ridiculous', as the character seemed to have time to react to the bullet being shot and dive in the way at 'warp speed'.
Puddle Drops tweeted: 'I'm all for a little artistic licence - but diving in front of a speeding bullet? Ridiculous and stupid.'
Suitably added: 'Sherlock enjoyed it right up until the moment Mary leapt in front of a speeding bullet - from six feet. Warp speed.'
Jehode also criticised it, as well as referencing the Thatcher images, tweeting: 'Impressive. Mary's reactions are faster than a speeding bullet. Apart from that it was good watching Thatcher getting bludgeoned.'
Mark Gatiss, the show's writer and actor who plays his brother, Mycroft, describes himself as a 'political junkie' and has made no secret of his views
In December he tweeted: 'This country is choking in a sea of whatever pale, grey paste runs through the veins of [Conservative MP] Jacob Rees-Mogg.'
An earlier ironic online post read: 'Theresa May is our only hope. That is how f***** we are.'
Martin Freeman (middle) and Amanda Abbington appeared on screen together after the pair ended their 16-year relationship
In a scene that moved viewers to tears, Dr John Watson spoke to his wife Mary after she was shot
The Watsons attended their baby's christening and Sherlock was asked to be the godfather
On the day Lady Thatcher died, he wrote: 'I well remember working in Leeds 23 years ago when a friend raced up to me panting 'She's gone!' Now she really has.'
However, he recently claimed he did not 'relish' the idea of smashing up the busts, for which the BBC was accused of showing 'snide' political bias.
He claims instead that is a slight alteration of Arthur Conan Doyle's original book, The Adventure of the Six Napoleans.
'The parallel is expressly drawn that she has become an icon like Napoleon. It was the natural thing to do as modernisation of the original story,' he told The Telegraph.
As well as criticising the end of the show, they were also left asking about his arch-nemesis Moriarty, who was notable in his absence last night.
The trailer opens with him asking 'miss me?', but at the end of last night's episode, he picked up a CD given to him by Mary from beyond the grave, with the same words written on it.
Some viewers found themselves asking if Moriarty really is returning, and even joked that he was wearing a shark suit and swimming in the aquarium during the final scene.
One viewer tweeted: 'Sherlock was good...but I'm still not over the fact we have no Moriarty...yet??'
Another wrote: 'Was I the only one who thought that Mary was working with moriarty when she began to speak in the video???'
Another of the most talked about elements of the new series was the fact that actors Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington, playing Watson and wife Mary, would be appearing as husband and wife after their recent split in reality.
It was made all the more difficult by the fact that they were starring in the TV event of the New Year period – last night's Sherlock.
And then came the script itself, which required them to relive the experience of being new parents and then express how much they loved each other.
After all that, the two stars might be forgiven for feeling somewhat relieved that Miss Abbington's character was dramatically killed off at the end of the first episode.
Fans were left 'heartbroken' after watching the emotional episode on BBC One last night
The tragedy of last night's episode was a bad start to the year for many viewers
In a scene that moved viewers to tears, as she died, she told her husband, Dr John Watson, that he had been her 'whole world' and begged him to look after their new-born baby.
And despite the recent strains in their real-life marriage, she told him: 'You made me so happy, you gave me everything I could have ever wanted.'
While the words were painfully ironic, given their recent split, it was Freeman's guttural cry as his on-screen wife died that was perhaps the most telling.
Amanda Abbington said farewell to the character she has played for six years, tweeting that she 'had a blast' being Mary Morstan
He admitted that filming the episode had been an 'odd' experience, particularly given that he and Miss Abbington have two children together, and so were revisiting their shared experience of being new parents.
He told The Observer: 'So we did this series not being together, which was kind of odd, although we were doing it as friends and we're still very close.
'It's always interesting doing stuff with your partner because you know each other better than anybody else and that was obviously still the case with this series.
'But it wasn't lost on me and Amanda that, 'Oh look, we're holding our fictional baby. Remember this?'.'
The pair had been together for 16 years before they announced they had split up just before Christmas
The main strand of the episode, titled The Six Thatchers, focused on six stone busts of Margaret Thatcher being smashed
Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock (centre), was back and ready to solve a new case
Asked if she found the filming strange, Miss Abbington told Stella magazine: 'Yes, so weird. Especially playing new parents again, up all night feeding and things, because we were effectively revisiting how it was when we first got together.
'I love working with Martin, and we definitely would do again, but there were some pressure points in this episode where we thought, "Oh, are we doing the right thing here?". But the resounding answer was always yes.'
She also opened up about the reason for the split, which she described as 'amicable', saying that Freeman's extensive work abroad had played its part.
She added: 'We've been apart a lot, and I think that's one of the reasons it happened. You can't be away from people for too long, because you start to function on your own, you get used to being separate. You lose the connection and lose sight of it, in the end.'
In a dramatic end to the episode, the death of Mary after she was shot in London Aquarium left many viewers reeling in shock
Crystal Burt, on Twitter, joked that the aquarium was 'filled with viewers tears'
On how their two children reacted to the news, she added: 'The children were upset at first when they told them, she says, but they're very cool. They know they're so loved, and have a huge support network.
'They're feeling quite vulnerable, but they'll get the best of us now, which is far better than living in a house that's not harmonious.'
Miss Abbington admitted their separation was 'sad and upsetting' but said they had decided it was best for them to split and had been 'really lucky' to make a clean break that minimised upset to their children.
She added: 'It's all totally fine. Martin and I remain best friends and love each other, and it was entirely amicable, but we realised we'd come to the end of our time together.
'There was no hostility, really. We just said that we couldn't live together any more. So he moved out to a flat in North London, I stayed at home, and we've started a new chapter.
Sherlock Holmes was investigating a case after a young man was found dead in his car
The episode also showed Sherlock in some near-death encounters, including one where he almost drowned in a swimming pool
Viewers saw a different side to Freeman's character when he appeared to have an affair with a woman he met on a bus (pictured)
The irony of Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbingdon playing new parents after their split was not lost on fans
Me trying to figure out what the HECK happened tonight #Sherlock pic.twitter.com/F1ge2fNdg4 — Sarah Carpenter (@SariCarpenter) January 2, 2017
'He sees the children as much as he wants to. We play it by ear on childcare, and it's working so far.'
The main strand of the episode, titled The Six Thatchers, focused on six stone busts of Margaret Thatcher being smashed, which sparked controversy among some fans.
However, co-writer Steven Moffat said the choice of Baroness Thatcher was merely a modern twist on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original tale The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.
He said: 'It is a simple equivalent of what we've done from the beginning and modernising it, and with this one we needed someone who was iconic. She is an iconic figure. That was the reason.'
The show's creators said they had wanted Mary's death to involve Sherlock in some way, as a reference to the time she shot him in the torso in a previous series.
Last night's 90-minute episode, which was expected to be watched by 11million people, also showed Sherlock in some near-death encounters, including one where he almost drowned in a swimming pool.
One viewer seemed to be having trouble accepting the tragic end to the episode, which is part of a three-show series running this January
For another viewer, it was an upsetting end to the night that ended in tears
However, the closing minutes showed an even greater struggle for the sleuth than avoiding being killed, as Watson blamed him for his wife's death.
Watson's decision to apportion blame was shown to hinge on a moment a few years earlier, when Sherlock convinced Mrs Watson to return to London and promised he would look after her.
However, whilst the loss of Watson's wife was undoubtedly the most heart-wrenching scene of the episode, viewers saw a different side to Freeman's character when he appeared to have an affair with a woman he met on a bus.
At one moment, he was shown sending her messages while his wife was comforting their baby daughter.