Last month's Emmy awards saw an unexpected and wildly impressive victory for Sherlock, with the series three finale 'His Last Vow' picking up three major awards for Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, and Steven Moffat's script.

Thrilling though this is, the reminder of how good Sherlock is has only served to make the inevitably long wait for series four that bit more painful, and Moffat didn't help matters by enigmatically declaring that the upcoming series will be "devastating". Gulp.

Sherlock series 4 predictions: What's next for Sherlock and John?

Since we were in the mood to marathon all thirteen and a half hours of Sherlock this week, we took the opportunity to pit the nine episodes against each other. Read our list from worst to best below, then tell us all the reasons why we're wrong in the comments!

9. 'The Blind Banker' (Series 1, Episode 2)

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There are no truly bad episodes of Sherlock – the luxury of 90-minute episodes and lengthy pre-production windows free the show up from a lot of standard TV pitfalls. But 'The Blind Banker' is the closest they've come, centering as it does on a hokey and politically dubious yarn about a band of Chinese smugglers on a murderous treasure hunt.

The episode's tone is closer to frothy action blockbuster than Sherlock's usual dark murder mystery, and much of the script wouldn't be out of place in Guy Ritchie's big-screen Holmes universe. There's banter around domestic life at 221B Baker Street, a jealous Sherlock gatecrashing John's love life, and a climactic set piece in which John and short-lived girlfriend Sarah are rescued from an elaborate execution.

All of this is good fun, and John Watson at the self-checkout machine remains an iconic moment. The episode also makes very good use of London, touching on city banker culture through Sherlock's smarmy university acquaintance Sebastian. But the forgettable supporting characters and ridiculously campy villain make this the most minor entry in Sherlock canon.

8. 'The Hounds of Baskerville' (Series 2, Episode 2)

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While it's arguably the best known and best loved of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, The Hound of the Baskervilles remains a bitch to adapt. All credit to Mark Gatiss for tackling a modernised version of the horror novel, producing an unsettling episode which uproots Sherlock and John both physically and psychologically.

Aware of the difficulty of making a massive hound seem a truly credible threat, Gatiss instead puts the focus on fear itself, and the ways drug-induced terror affects our hardened duo. It's a compelling concept that partially succeeds: the impact of fear on Sherlock isn't explored as well as it could have been (the fireside scene doesn't quite play right), but John's understated terror in the lab makes for a wonderfully atmospheric and frightening sequence.

What lets 'Hounds' down are the details: Russell Tovey's Henry Knight just doesn't justify the amount of screen time he gets, while the much-maligned mind palace is a witty and inventive idea whose execution still needs some ironing out.

7. 'The Empty Hearse' (Series 3, Episode 1)

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How do you follow a series ending as devastating and universally praised as 'The Reichenbach Fall'? As it turns out, by flipping the switch entirely and returning on a note that's more tongue-in-cheek comedy than sustained tragedy. While the contrast is jarring if you watch the two episodes back-to-back, it's a bravura move that mostly pays off.

A good chunk of the episode is given over to slick rug-pulls and playful diversions: the hypothetical 'How Sherlock did it' sequences and nods towards the show's ballooning fandom are breathlessly entertaining flourishes that don't have much re-watch value, as is the enjoyably farcical restaurant scene in which Sherlock first appears to John.

But the sprawling approach narrows down as the episode goes on, with Sherlock and John's bruised relationship getting the focus it needs first via a great big action set piece (Sherlock saving John from being burned alive) and later in an intimate two-hander (Sherlock and John trapped in the bombed tube carriage). It's the messiest Sherlock season opener to date, but given how spectacular its other two have been, that's saying very little.

6. 'His Last Vow' (Series 3, Episode 3)

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While it thankfully was not, Steven Moffat's most recent episode played in many ways like a series finale, bringing several of the show's elements full circle and reverting both Sherlock and John to their pre-'Study in Pink' states. Sherlock is as sociopathic and manipulative as he's ever been without John's influence, while the newly-married John is once again haunted by nightmares of the war.

It's an ambitious emotional powerhouse of an episode which boasts some of the show's best individual scenes of all time, without quite cohering as a whole. The structure is needlessly convoluted in the third act, jumping back and forth to Christmas dinner for no apparent reason, while the reintroduction of the overly cosy Holmes family grates.

But watching Freeman's work in the scene where John reacts to Mary's betrayal, or Cumberbatch's in the disturbing mind palace sequence with Moriarty, it's easy to see why this episode earned the pair their acting Emmys.

If 'His Last Vow' began by restoring the status quo, it ended by tearing it to pieces and throwing the shreds into the air in a way that challenges Doyle canon in ways the show never has before. Sherlock has killed a man and is going into exile, John is about to become a father, and Moriarty is back from the dead (maybe). Here's hoping the payoff is worth it.

5. 'The Great Game' (Series 1, Episode 3)

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Moriarty looms so large over series one, albeit in name only, that the moment he finally appears on screen could very easily have been an anticlimax. But the deranged, quasi-reptilian mania of Andrew Scott's performance is so unlike any Moriarty we've seen before, and such a compelling contrast with Cumberbatch's stillness, that their climactic poolside confrontation caps off the series in flawless style.

This first Mark Gatiss-penned episode boasts a dark and very compelling central plot – Moriarty holds innocent people hostage in bomb vests and gives Sherlock seconds to save their lives via riddles – alongside meaty character development.

Sherlock and John's nascent relationship is tested for the first time, with John disturbed by Sherlock's apparent callousness, and Sherlock in turn proving just how much he does care after Moriarty correctly identifies John as the way to his heart.

This episode also establishes the key idea that Moriarty is a dark mirror image of Sherlock, which recurs in every series finale: on the rooftop in 'Reichenbach', and in the mind palace in 'His Last Vow'.

4. 'The Sign of Three' (Series 3, Episode 2)

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The best episode of Sherlock's third series is also the show's most character-centric and comedic to date, which goes some way to explaining why it received a mixed reception upon its airing in the UK. But critics in both the UK and US rightly praised 'The Sign of Three' for its rich, skilful script, which broke new ground for the show in terms of tone and structure.

This is also the first episode to have been officially written by all three Sherlock scribes (Moffat, Gatiss and Steve Thompson), and it shows in the intricate, multi-stranded result. The spine of the episode is Sherlock delivering a perfect, characteristically tone-deaf yet ultimately moving best man's speech at John's wedding, which weaves together flashbacks, character comedy, emotional revelation and a present-day mystery.

Cumberbatch does some of his best work ever with this extraordinary monologue, which sees Sherlock alternately at his most chilly, his most manic and his most tender. Then there's the endlessly re-watchable stag night sequence ("Egg? Chair? Sitty thing???"), the lovely flashback to John asking Sherlock to be his best man, the elephant in the room, the origami napkins, "NOT REALLY!", and we could go on.

3. 'A Scandal in Belgravia' (Series 2, Episode 1)

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"Sherlock Holmes confronts love" sounds like a potentially disastrous premise for an episode. But 'Scandal' keeps an impeccable handle on its leading man's stunted emotions, setting his fascination with dominatrix Irene Adler (Laura Pulver) within the framework of a cerebral and noirish mystery.

Pulver is utterly compelling as the mysterious Woman, whose chilly intellect and knack for ruthless manipulation make her a dream sparring partner for Sherlock. Moffat shrewdly makes an airtight case for why this particularly aloof Holmes would be obsessed by Adler, because she is the first person we've ever seen him unable to "read", and their dance is all the more mesmerising for never being consummated.

Moffat also resists the temptation to let the guest star run away with the episode, with just about every character in the mix given greater depth and nuance than before. Mycroft and Sherlock at the morgue; Molly finally standing up to Sherlock at Christmas, Mrs Hudson getting saved, and John's initially bemused, increasingly worried reactions to the Sherlock/Irene situation. No episode to date has served the show's ensemble better.

2. 'A Study in Pink' (Series 1, Episode 1)

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Sherlock's first chapter, aside from being a near-perfect 90 minutes of television, is a masterclass in economical character introduction. Just as in Arthur Conan Doyle's 'A Study in Scarlet', John Watson is our viewpoint into the deranged world of Sherlock Holmes, and his first moments on screen – waking up from nightmares of war – speaks volumes about how damaged and lonely he is.

Similarly, our introduction to Cumberbatch's Sherlock – whipping corpses in the morgue, in a sly nod to Doyle – is both hilarious and dimly terrifying, making it very clear why he might need a John Watson in his life. Watching the pair curiously circle each other never gets less entertaining, and their dynamic takes shape rapidly: John is a walking dead man brought palpably back to life by Sherlock's vigor, while Sherlock is an unstoppable force desperately in need of an immoveable object to ground him.

The instant bond is made all the more convincing by Cumberbatch and Freeman's effortless chemistry, which shines as much in small interactions as in lengthy exchanges of dialogue. The warmth of their connection offsets the episode's chilling central concept of a serial killer who forces his victims to commit suicide, and leads up beautifully to the closing hero shot of "Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson".

1. 'The Reichenbach Fall' (Series 2, Episode 3)

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When Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes in 1893 short story 'The Final Problem', the public response was ferocious: fans staged protests outside the publishers' offices and took to wearing black armbands in mourning. The response after Sherlock aired its series two finale in 2012, culminating in Sherlock throwing himself from the rooftop of St Bart's in front of eyewitnesses and a horrified John, was no less extreme.

Major media outlets and fansites alike speculated for weeks afterwards about how Sherlock did it, with everything from dialogue to screen grabs to interview quotes from Moffat and Gatiss being scrupulously analysed. But 'The Reichenbach Fall' does the opposite of coasting on the power of its cliffhanger – it's a breathtaking emotional tour de force, by turns outlandish, elegant, disturbing and gut-wrenching.

With the spotlight fully on Moriarty for the first time, Scott gives a spectacular performance that vacillates from gloriously theatrical (stealing the crown jewels), to chillingly quiet ("I owe you a fall") to manic during the rooftop confrontation with Sherlock.

And then there's the sense of impending doom and heartbreak that colours every moment between Sherlock and John, with John ferociously loyal as everyone else begins to lose faith in Sherlock thanks to Moriarty's smear campaign. Cumberbatch brings new vulnerability to Sherlock as he gradually realises what he has to do, while we still can't even write about Freeman's delivery of "Don't. Be. Dead. Just stop it, stop this," without bawling.

How would you rank Sherlock's nine episodes? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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