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Seems like Anderson will be allowed to have a beard now

BBC1 confirms that Amanda Abbington is playing "someone of significance" to John and Sherlock's relationship.

It seems to me that Moriarty was tired of living, and would have committed suicide no matter what. He says that staying alive is boring, especially since he had no more distractions. He was self-destructive, and no matter what Sherlock did, he was probably going to kill himself.

It's obviously a difference of opinion- I just don't think he had "deep feelings" for Molly in the first series at all. In the second series, we see their friendship grow. I just think that Sherlock didn't harbor deep down feelings for Molly throughout the series. Really, a "sociopath" is another word for "psychopath", but with the idea that someone's antisocial behavior is caused by someone's environment, instead of being innate. This would fit Sherlock- if it were innate, he would be incapable of caring about anyone at all. Sociopaths can indeed feel real love and empathy, but usually only for certain people. It would make sense if his anti-social behavior were caused by environment factors growing up- he's a genius, and he was more than likely an outcast because of it. He probably stopped letting himself care about people because he was afraid of getting hurt, or because he saw it as a major disadvantage. John seems to have broken through that barrier that Sherlock built, but that's because he respects John. Sherlock doesn't care about people doesn't respect. Molly had to earn Sherlock's respect, too; even though he does respect her intelligence when it comes to work, I don't think he respected her feelings until the Christmas debacle- THAT'S when we see the big change in their relationship.

Sure can post that link: http://bristolculture.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/sherlock-filmed-in-bristol/ There's also a link in there to someone who was an extra. Also, about the bonfire:

I found some more information, and this is a MAJOR spoiler- so don't look if you don't want to know.

I don't know if he had "deep feelings" for her before then. To me, it's obvious that he doesn't actually think about her, or her feelings, until Christmas. Everyone else knows who the present is for, except Sherlock, who thinks he's being clever by teasing her about it. When he does realize that he's hurt her feelings, he nearly runs away for a moment- but we've seen his emotional growth throughout these episodes, so he apologized instead. But it's not just Sherlock who grows...it's Molly, as well. Without her finally breaking through that barrier, not being so in awe of him that she couldn't fight back, I don't think Sherlock would have shown the trust in her that he does before the fall. He's trusted her with lab work and case work before- but this is his life, and the lives of his friends. I don't think he would have trusted her in that situation without the breakthrough in their relationship.

I don't think it was intentional, I'm quite sure he was just oblivious. That's his personality...he disdains and walks over everyone who doesn't put him in his place. Lestrade and John can take Sherlock's brilliance without being dazzled by it. Mrs. Hudson is also not a pushover. Molly is. Or at least, was...until she gave Sherlock a dressing down at Christmas. Then she finally sees him for who he truly is in the last episode- a troubled man who is putting on a face for others. When she confronts Sherlock about it, he finally realizes that she isn't the pushover he thought she was, and he can finally confide in her. Moriarty wouldn't have thought much of Molly, either, given that he went on a few dates with her. He probably would have never suspected that Sherlock would have anything other than contempt for her based on the way he saw them interact with each other.

I'm in the states, but I ordered mine from amazon.co.uk and received it today. I've already read through it, but it was a fun book. I do prefer having the hardback, though.

Benedict Cumberbatch also confirmed that everyone is signed on for a fourth series of Sherlock. Yay!

Thanks! I've gone back and forth about Mycroft and Sherlock, but I think Mycroft would use Sherlock if he had to, and I'm not so sure that Sherlock was ahead of Moriarty the entire time- if he had been, I don't think it would have ever gotten to the point that it did. I also think that Sherlock's frustration was genuine throughout the episode until the end. He knew that Moriarty wanted to burn him, but he didn't figure it out completely until he saw the newspaper story. Mycroft often pulls Sherlock's strings to get him to do what he wants him to do...sometimes it backfires (like in SiB), but both of them feel very free to manipulate the other when they deem it necessary. There would be no other reason for Mycroft to let Moriarty go with all of the information he had given him about Sherlock unless he was intending on Sherlock somehow using it to get the information out of Moriarty. And even if Mycroft told Sherlock what he had done, Sherlock still had no way of knowing what Moriarty was up to until he did it. Obviously, this is just my opinion based on my extreme overanalysis of this episode, lol. But it's a lot of fun to discuss it with others since I didn't get to watch Sherlock until a month ago.

My first post here, but here's what I think. All of these theories assume that the audience has been given all of the answers during the episode: I think there is more than one person helping out with the kidnapping - the policeman assassin and the assassin watching John. The policeman assassin moves the children when he comes into the factory. The other assassin looks suspiciously like Sherlock (same hair, angular face and build). The little girl could easily mistake Sherlock for him if she had seen him in a bad light. I think that IOU references the Grimm's fairytale chapter numbers using the periodic numbers for I, O and U. I can't take credit for this theory, but it makes the most sense to me as it is the only one that explains the point of the book. "The Strange Musician" is the story that makes the most sense. I think that he is recording his conversation with Moriarty via the wireless camera he finds earlier...but I think it has to be up somewhere, because he moves around too much for it to be effective if he is wearing it. So it could perhaps be on the roof antenna (it's in the perfect position to capture everything on the roof). I think he might stream this video to his phone, though (very important reason to make sure the phone stays on the roof where it can't get hurt and where he can retrieve it later). He gets Moriarty to confess everything by playing dumb, so it makes no sense to not record it - he will need it to help clear his name to the police and to the press when he comes back. However, the phone streaming idea assumes that there isn't a computer close enough to be able to pick up the stream. I think the "out of character" moment for Sherlock (besides playing dumb) is after Moriarty kills himself. He acts "distraught" by putting his hands on his head and his arm in front of his nose. I think he is putting fake blood packs on the back of his head and in his nose because those are the only places blood is coming from when he's rolled over on the ground. When he steps up on the ledge of the roof, there is a mark exactly where he stands. This is there on purpose. He falls onto something soft behind the truck- don't know what, but when he puts his arm out while talking to John, that has to be the signal for everything to be ready down below. He falls perpendicular and face down, but he's parallel and on his side on the ground- so it looks like he lands and then rolls back off of whatever it was. I don't think he takes any drugs before this point because it would be too much of a wild card; however, we don't know how he and Molly pull it off once he is inside the hospital (we have no clues there, other than Sherlock asking Molly for help). Sherlock can easily fake his pulse for John by using the squash ball in the armpit trick, and the other "doctors" and "nurses" on the scene are obviously actors (the doctor especially since that person is feeling for a pulse in Sherlock's neck, and he would definitely be able to feel one there). The bicyclist is an actor, too, who is buying Sherlock more time. I think Mycroft sets this up intentionally, but I don't think Sherlock is in on Mycroft's plan. Mycroft just isn't that dumb, and he would have immediately recognized "Richard Brook" from the newspaper as a fake name. I think Mycroft is using Sherlock in order to get the information about the "key code" from Moriarty. The only thing that I can't figure out is what Moriarty sees or notices to realize that Sherlock has played him. There must be a reason the sun blocks out the view of Sherlock's face, but I have yet to notice what it is that Moriarty sees.