RIP Sherlock Holmes...or not!

In the closing moments of BBC One's 'Sherlock' tonight, I was all ready to write a blog post about the BBC having a habit of killing off a main character in order to end a series of programmes - until the final few seconds before the credits that is...

Back in 2009, the BBC ended 'Robin Hood' by killing off Robin himself. A sad end to such a brilliant programme that unfortunately only lasted until its third series. If you kill off a character then the general rule is that they can't return from the dead right? So it's an easy option for closing a series as that way the viewers can't have more. However, as we have just seen tonight, thankfully, that is not the case if you're Sherlock Holmes.

Shock value seems to be one of the BBC's core elements to its dramas as that is often what the audience wants. No-one could have seen it coming when Sherlock Holmes announced himself to be a fake and then commit suicide. This indeed did come as quite a shock and seemed to be quite a let down for viewers only 2 series' in. Being such an ingenious and gripping drama I really didn't want 'Sherlock' to come to an end but, as the BBC have let me down before, I did believe that that was it as we'd all seen Sherlock fall off of the rooftop. [By 'before' I mean 'Grange Hill' but just don't get me started on that one - I might end up discovering that Blogger has a word limit on it's posts.] Much to my surprise, and joy, and most probably to the surprise of most of the viewers, John Watson got what he asked, and what we'd all hoped for - a third series of 'Sherlock'. The appearance of a very much alive Sherlock Holmes leaves the BBC with a lot of unanswered questions that they definitely need to address in the next series, preferably the first episode please. Until then, we'll just have to wait...