Millions of TV viewers baffled as to how Holmes faked his own death. The Mail on Sunday called in the experts to investigate...

It was the most gripping television cliffhanger of recent years – sparking a frenzy of speculation and armchair detective work among the programme’s eight million viewers.

Last Sunday the second series of the BBC drama Sherlock concluded with its protagonist appearing to leap to his death from the roof of a hospital while his best friend Dr Watson looked on.



But he emerged alive and well a few months later. How on earth did Holmes manage it?



Exit roles: Sherlock Holmes is shocked as he witnesses Moriarty apparently committing suicide by shooting himself

For the millions of fans of the drama, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and updates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic stories to the present day, it has proved to be the ultimate three-pipe problem.

Over the past few days, Twitter, Facebook and fan forums have been deluged with theories on the faked death, ranging from the plausible to the downright preposterous.

Steven Moffat, who wrote the series with Mark Gatiss and Steve Thompson, has said all the clues pointing to how Sherlock survived were in the episode. ‘It’s all set up,’ he said.

In an interview yesterday, he teased fans further by saying: ‘There is a clue everybody’s missed. So many people theorising about Sherlock’s death online – and they missed it!

‘We’ve worked out how Sherlock survives and actually shot part of what really happened. It all makes sense.’

Flight of fancy: Sherlock Holmes jumps off the hospital roof, 60ft up... or does he?

In the best tradition of Sherlock himself, The Mail on Sunday has forensically examined the episode, The Reichenbach Fall, for clues about what really happened and, with the help of a variety of experts, assessed the credibility of the most popular theories.

Roger Johnson, editor of The Sherlock Holmes Journal, says: ‘There are extremely clever minds behind this, so it can be guaranteed that when the answer is revealed, it’ll be a surprise.’

Holmes was fond of saying: ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable must be the truth.’ But this case appears far from elementary...

WHAT VIEWERS SAW

Sherlock was lured to the roof of St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City of London by his nemesis, Moriarty, who told him he must kill himself to avoid his loved ones being assassinated. After an intellectual tussle, Moriarty appeared to commit suicide with a gun in his mouth. Holmes was then seen telephoning Watson, played by Martin Freeman, to say goodbye before throwing himself off the roof and appearing to hit the ground.

As Watson ran towards his friend as he fell, a cyclist knocked him over, causing his disorientation and a delay in his arrival at the scene. Holmes was then shown lying on the ground, covered in blood and apparently without a pulse, and was whisked into the hospital by paramedics.

The public were led to believe Holmes had killed himself after being exposed as a fraud who had invented Moriarty to hoodwink the police and promote himself as a genius. But when Watson visited his grave months later, the detective was shown to be alive and watching from afar.



Stopping his tracks: A cyclist collides with Watson after the fall

Theory One:



It was actually moriarty

Earlier in the episode a little girl kidnapped by Moriarty screamed at Holmes when she saw him, suggesting she recognised him and associated him with her ordeal.

This has led to speculation that Moriarty had somehow made himself look like Holmes during the kidnapping, perhaps using a very convincing mask, which the detective could then have put on Moriarty’s body before pushing it off the roof.

Even more bizarre is the theory that the man jumping off the roof might have been one of Moriarty’s henchmen. The suggestion is that he had surgery to look like Holmes while kidnapping the children – but was then forced by Holmes to jump off the roof.

The major problem with the claim that it was Moriarty lies in Benedict Cumberbatch’s 6ft frame and very distinctive appearance, which would have been exceptionally difficult for Moriarty, played by the considerably shorter Andrew Scott, to impersonate.

Sherlock Holmes expert Roger Johnson says: ‘I think the man lying on the ground was quite clearly Holmes, not Moriarty or an impersonator.’

In any case, most fans, including criminologist Dr Michael Fiddler, believe that Moriarty is actually still alive. ‘Moriarty and Sherlock both exist as a foil to the other,’ he says.

‘They share the same sociopathic tendencies but where Sherlock is motivated by curiosity to work out how crimes have been committed, Moriarty is motivated by a destructive boredom.

‘It makes sense that their suicides would mirror one another – Moriarty faking his as part of their game and Sherlock proving his fundamental difference to Moriarty by faking his to save others.’

Plausibility rating: One out of five

Revealed: The 'body' comes into view behind the rubbish truck

Theory two:

It was a dummy

Perhaps the least imaginative theory is that Sherlock threw a very lifelike dummy off the building. Although many fans believe writers Moffat and Gatiss are too clever to use such a simple tactic, others point to their penchant for weaving allusions to the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories into their drama.

The episode, The Reichenbach Fall, is based loosely on the 1893 story The Final Problem, in which Holmes and Moriarty both plunge to their death in the Reichenbach waterfall in Switzerland.

Johnson says: ‘The episode cleverly incorporates references to this story by beginning with Holmes retrieving the Turner painting The Great Falls Of The Reichenbach and then having Moriarty assuming the identity of a man called Richard Brook – “rich brook” is the English translation of Reichenbach.

‘They also use the idea of a fall to imply not just a physical fall but also the fall of Holmes’s reputation.’

Although Conan Doyle intended for Holmes’s death in The Final Problem to be real, the outcry from fans prompted him to resurrect the detective in his story The Empty House. In that, Holmes uses a dummy to fool Moriarty’s henchmen – so the writers could be making another reference.

According to Dr Fiddler, clues in Holmes’s psychological make-up allow a simple solution to be plausible. ‘We know that Sherlock is at best a high-functioning autistic or at worst a sociopath,’ he says.

‘Ordinarily, all he cares about is being clever. In faking his suicide, he is prioritising his human side by helping others.’

Plausibility: Two out of five



Theory Three:



Holmes landed in the rubbish truck

Eagle-eyed viewers spotted a rubbish truck parked in the street outside the hospital, prompting the theory that Holmes was able to break his fall and survive by landing in the truck. He could then have used the delay caused by the cyclist knocking Watson over to take his position on the ground.

This theory appears credible as during Holmes’s phone conversation with Watson immediately before plummeting off the roof, he begged him to remain in the same position in the street, meaning Watson did not see Holmes land. The roof of the pathology building at Bart’s is 60ft 8in high. According to physicist Professor Jim Al-Khalili, the only possible way for Holmes to have survived a fall from that height would have been if it ended with a soft landing.

‘Jumping from such a height means a man would hit the ground at 43 mph,’ he says. ‘Hitting concrete pavement is not survivable at that speed. The suddenness of the impact would kill a man instantly.

‘To have a cushioned landing is the most likely way to survive. The passing rubbish truck would allow for a dampening of his speed. If he’d landed on rubbish bags, they would have acted as a shock-absorber.’

Johnson says: ‘The only problem with this theory is that Watson appeared to take Holmes’s pulse. In the Guy Ritchie film Sherlock Holmes, the villain pretends to be dead using a drug to mimic the symptoms of death, but I don’t think Moffat and Gatiss would stoop to that tactic.’

Plausibility: Three out of five

Proof? The 'dead body' lying on the pavement

Theory Four:



Molly Hooper arranged it

Pathologist Molly Hooper, played by Louise Brearley, has had unrequited romantic feelings for Holmes since their first meeting. In The Reichenbach Fall, she observed that he appeared anxious and offered to help him in any way she could. Later, he is seen visiting her at Bart’s and telling her ‘I think I’m going to die’, before uncharacteristically admitting he needs her help.

As a pathologist, she has access to dead bodies, medical records and post-mortem certificates. As Holmes jumped from the pathology unit, she could have arranged for a team to be ready and waiting to surround him on the ground before Dr Watson could get to him.

Perhaps they even applied blood to his head and somehow momentarily stopped his pulse to help him appear dead. She could then have provided all the official documentation and a body to bury in Holmes’s grave.

‘We saw Sherlock fake emotions earlier in the series to get what he wanted but we’d never seen him show weakness until he was in the lab with Molly,’ says Dr Fiddler. ‘That suggests it could have been part of a longer game – a bid to persuade her to help him.’

‘I think we can assume that Molly had something to do with it,’ says Johnson.

Plausibility: Five out of five



Theory Five:



Mycroft Holmes arranged it

Earlier in the episode, viewers saw Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s secret-agent brother, telling Dr Watson that he had unwittingly provided Moriarty with the secrets of Holmes’s life.

These were then used by the evil genius to destroy the detective’s reputation.

Many fans have suggested that it seems unlikely the genius Mycroft would reveal anything unwittingly, particularly not when it might harm his own brother. Mycroft also wishes to destroy Moriarty and would never play into his hands.

There has been much speculation that it was Mycroft who arranged for the cyclist to knock down Watson and disorientate him at the crucial moment of Holmes’s apparent death.

Johnson says: ‘In the original stories the relationship between Sherlock and his brother was distant but respectful.

‘The writers of the TV series have taken the much more fractious relationship between the brothers in the Billy Wilder film The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes as their inspiration.

‘However, I’m fairly confident that Mycroft hasn’t helped in Sherlock’s downfall.

‘It doesn’t fit with the spirit of the stories, which Moffat and Gatiss have been careful to capture. He probably helped behind the scenes. The cyclist certainly appeared to have been planted.’

Plausibility: Four out of five



Theory Six:



Watson hallucinated the entire thing

Perhaps the most outlandish theory being discussed online is that Holmes’s death was a figment of Watson’s imagination as a result of hallucinogenic drugs that cause people to see their worst fears.

Drugs were used in the previous episode, The Hounds Of Baskerville, to trick Holmes and Watson into seeing a terrifying wild dog. Perhaps a similar chemical agent could have been used by Holmes to trick his friend?

‘The drug in The Hounds Of Baskerville, which was used to induce paranoia and stimulate fear, was a nod to the story The Adventure Of The Devil’s Foot, in which something similar is used,’ says Johnson.

‘But I think it would be lazy of the writers to use a drug as the explanation, especially as they had used it already. I think they are far too clever for that.’