"The Empty Hearse" is the first episode of the third series of the BBC television series Sherlock. It was written by Mark Gatiss and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson, and Mark Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes. It also marks the first appearance of Amanda Abbington as Mary Morstan and Lars Mikkelsen as Charles Augustus Magnussen.
Inspired by "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Lost Special" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the episode follows Sherlock Holmes' return to London and reunion with John Watson, along with an underground terrorist network. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One and Channel One on 1 January 2014. It garnered a viewership of 12.7 million people and received positive reviews.
Plot
Two years after his supposed death (depicted in "The Reichenbach Fall"), Sherlock Holmes has been completely absolved of the slanderous accusations against him originated by Jim Moriarty and secretly returns to London to help his brother Mycroft uncover an apparently imminent terrorist attack. An interleaved scene shows a version of how Sherlock might have faked his death: by jumping from the roof with a bungee cable, bouncing back and entering the building through a window, leaving Moriarty's body with a Sherlock mask to mislead John and other onlookers, John himself being hypnotised by Derren Brown to give the time for this to be set up. This version of events is quickly shown to be a conspiracy theory invented by Philip Anderson, who feels responsible for Sherlock's death.
John now has a girlfriend, Mary Morstan, to whom he intends to propose in a restaurant. At this point, Sherlock, disguised as a French waiter, approaches the couple but is not immediately recognised by John. When Sherlock reveals his identity, John attacks him three times in three different locations. When John refuses to accept his explanations, Sherlock enlists Molly to assist him in his next case, that of an underground skeleton behind a desk containing a manuscript: How I Did It by Jack the Ripper, revealed toward the end of the episode to be a fake planted by Anderson to lure Sherlock out of hiding. Later that day, Mary receives a text in a skip code (first and every three words) telling her that John has been kidnapped by unknown assailants and will die if he is not rescued in time, along with a coded location. Sherlock and Mary come to his rescue on a motorcycle and manage to drag him out of a lit bonfire on which a "guy" (Guy Fawkes effigy) was about to be burned.
Sherlock is shown a video by a London Underground employee of the mysterious vanishing of a passenger from a train between two stations near Parliament and later identifies the passenger as a member of the House of Lords, Lord Moran, whom he knows to be a foreign agent and who has been acting unusually. He notices that it is not only Moran who vanished but an entire carriage of the train and deduces that the attack will be on the Houses of Parliament, which will be holding a late-night hearing on a new anti-terrorism bill on Guy Fawkes Night, 5 November. Sherlock and John enter the abandoned station near Parliament, finding the secretly diverted carriage. It is rigged with explosives to make an enormous bomb. Sherlock manages to defuse the bomb by turning the off-switch, but not before making John believe the bomb can't be defused, leading Sherlock to apologize to John for getting him involved and saying that John would have had a future if he hadn't come back. This all had the intended effect of causing John to panic and reveal to Sherlock how much he has missed him, to John's later embarrassment.
Another scene intercut with the above shows Sherlock visiting Anderson. He reveals how he faked his death as part of a scheme to convince Moriarty of his lost credibility and demise. The plan allowed the Holmes brothers to dissolve Moriarty's network successfully. Sherlock tells Anderson that he and Mycroft had anticipated thirteen possible scenarios that could happen on the roof, and that while John's view was obstructed, members of his Homeless Network rolled out an inflatable mattress and took their roles as shocked bystanders and paramedics. With the aid of a squash ball under his arm to temporarily stop his pulse, Sherlock convincingly faked his death. Anderson casts doubt on the integrity of this version of events, arguing it would be nearly impossible to ensure John remained exactly where Sherlock wanted. Anderson points out that he is "the last person" Sherlock would tell, but as he turns around, the room is empty. Anderson then begins tearing his theories from the wall, laughing hysterically, and the intercut scene ends.
Moran is ambushed by the police and arrested after leaving his hotel suite. John asks Sherlock who abducted him and why, questions for which Sherlock has no answers yet. In the final scene, a bespectacled man with blue eyes is seen observing footage of Sherlock and Mary rescuing John from the fire.