Here’s what the cast and creators said after December’s preview screening of The Empty Hearse.
Spoiler warning: best avoided if you havent seen The Empty Hearse.
Three, two, one.
[Loud, high-pitched scream].
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Benedict Cumberbatch:Good technique.
Im going to use it later [laughter].
CM:First of all, how difficult was that to keep secret?
Run us through the logistics.
Were there code words?
Did everybody have code names?
Mark Gatiss:We just asked people not to say anything really.
We filmed the solution in broad daylight in front of lots of people and nobody said anything.
It was even in the papers.
We also shot a completely fake scene in which I collaborate with Andrew [Scott].
MG:With a paper plate for a face!
We couldnt lock it down.
They stood and watched everything all day.
You could have worked it out.
It was an act of kindness and self-discipline on behalf of the many fans who were there watching.
CM:A gentlemans agreement, basically?
Some good, old-fashioned British politeness.
SM:It was shot in broad daylight, everyone saw it.
There was none of that, there was no actual spy action, it was simply down to politeness.
MG:No, sadly the real world isnt like that.
SV:Wed just perfected blank faces, hadnt we?
When anyone asked us how it happened.
CM:How often were you asked?
Did people just know not to ask you.
Socially, has it been quite difficult?
You go to parties and are people asking, come on, you could tell me.
I know I did that a couple of times.
How annoying were other people on a scale of one to me?
MG:To be honest, we knew right from the start how we were going to do it.
I think people were expecting something mystical.
The TARDIS… [laughter].
SM:Assuming of course that Sherlock Holmes has bothered to tell Anderson the truth.
That is a very plausible version of how he did it.
BC:I was sat there wondering at the end, gosh, I wonder if I even know?
CM:You tried to make it more difficult for people, didnt you?
When you were up on that building at the height of the mystery.
It means tessellate, anyone who likes Alt-J knows that they do that in their video.
SV:[To Benedict] Didnt Andrew put your coat on?
CM:It must have been an odd atmosphere shooting it.
Martin and Ben, I mean, the crowds were massive werent they?
Martin Freeman:Yes, it did.
CM:Is that weird?
MF:It was like being at a premiere, wasnt it?
[To Benedict].
It was like being at a premiere and running lines.
BC:The what did I do on my days work genre of acting.
CM:What are those crowds like?
Describe what its like when you get there.
Is it quiet respectfulness?
Do they throw items?
BC:[To Martin] I think you should describe what its like.
Do you know what?
Incredibly respectful, very, very tolerant and understanding of the filming process.
MF:Tolerant of us?
BC:Tolerant of us, and happy to be there.
I remember once hearing this enormous noise and someone said, what happened?
And I said, Martin just opened a packet of crisps [huge laugh].
MF:It was a good packet.
CM:Jeremy [Lovering,The Empty Hearsedirector].
What about the logistics of filming that way?
Did I see some crowds in the underground shot at Westminster?
Jeremy Lovering:Oh no [laughter].
Youve got time to re-edit it!
You could just crop that.
JL:Yes, when they were walking across the concourse, they were there.
Basically there are certain areas we couldnt control.
In the London Underground, youre allowed six people at any time as your entourage going through public spaces.
CM:Are any of the underground crowd here today?
Did anybody recognise themselves in that shot?
SM:Stop saying that!
[laughter]
JL:They were so incidental.
CM:But it was lovely!
SM:The audience is in the shot!
CM:But its likeThe Muppet Show.
Two years in the making!
CM:[joking] You could have got a professional journalist to do this.
I just passed security and Im here to ask what I want to ask.
CM:How long ago did you know what was going to happen?
Did you do all of the last series knowing what was going to happen in the next series?
MG:We were going to do it as a two-stage trick.
Its actually why there is a reference in a newspaper to a refit of the historical hospital.
CM:In that plot, is that actually feasible?
Is there a Sumatra Road tube station that could actually blow up parliament?
MG:The Giant Rat of Sumatra!
Sumatra Road is in West Hampstead, its a little off Westminster alas, but I couldnt resist it.
But there is a station in Hampstead called Bull and Bush, which was never opened.
I had a determination to put the tube in.
CM:It is a love story to London as well isnt it, the whole show?
MG:Wasnt that shot of parliament blowing up amazing?
[laughter] Put it in all the trailers, it doesnt matter!
SV:[To Jeremy Lovering, director] Youd just had a knee operation, hadnt you?
[laughter & applause].
CM:There are some lovely new additions to the Sherlock family and cameos.
First of all, keeping it a family affair, weve got Mary.
I think everyone is very much loving Mary?
[Whoops and cheers from audience].
Martin, given that thats your wife, how difficult was that audition?
MF:Youll have to ask Mark and Sue and people about that.
CM:What was it like on set?
Obviously, we do row but we try not to at work.
I hope everyone else is as delighted.
BC:You were delightful with her as well [big aww from audience, followed by a really?
look from Cumberbatch, then laughter].
BC:Try sharing a cab with the two of them!
Theyre brilliant in that and again, I think theyre perfect casting as my parents.
MG:Whats worth saying is that this is really the first time that weve gone beyond.
CM:What was that like, working with them?
BC:It was kind of nerve-wracking.
It was really gorgeous and a very special feeling.
CM:Lets talk about the fandom of The Empty Hearse in the show and the fiction of them.
Is that a loving thing?
You love those fans?
Is that a cheeky little wink?
MG:Its the same sort of thing, knowing how big its become, you cantnotaddress it.
Actually, we didnt have enough for the shot, we should have asked them to come down!
SM:[To Jeremy Lovering, director] Im surprised you didnt get them in the shot!
CM:I believe the only complaint thats ever made about Sherlock is that there isnt enough?
MG:I believe the whole of China just said that, to the Prime Minister!
BC:Oh, one can but dream.
Audience member 1:What was it like returning to the characters after two years away?
I love the familiarity of the world and the writing and working with Ben and the newcomers on set.
We love giving it to you [laughter].
MG:There was a round of applause for the squash ball!
Everyone going, yes, I knew that.
People ran with that one for ages.
CM:That was why he was crying apparently, because it was a reaction to a drug.
Could you come back and do another version?
SM:I think that would be a little bit uncreative.
CM:Keep it going forever.
Every six years, this is another way we could have gone.
Did you think about, tonally, what it would do to bring that into it?
It was very tastefully done and had wonderful emotional pay-off but did you think about that at all?
But you have to be aware of these things.
Its odd, Martin had a line about the IRA getting restless again, which they have just done.
BC:Our version is in the twenty-first century.
It should be about the reality that is part of our lives.
Because its Sherlock Holmes!
SM:Did you mean about the reality of that?
Audience member 3:Im from Boston, so its maybe a little bit of a raw nerve.
MG:Weve had terrorism longer than Sherlock Holmes, thats the truth of it.
BC:Weve had terrorism in our underground as well, so it wasnt treated lightly.
CM:Is there anything too dark that you wouldnt do?
SM:Were aware that kids do like watching it, so we confirm that its alright for them.
MG:Its the spirit of adventure, isnt it?
SM:Its murder by luminous dog!
SV:It was actually made for pre-watershed.
MG:CBeebies, originally [laughter].
Audience member 4:Mark, is it different writing a character you then have to play?
MG:It is difficult.
Its a bit easier really, because I find it easier to learn my own words.
I can still say [launches into a few lines in Serbian with relish applause].
The only Serbian Ill ever know.
CM:What was that line?
SM:Not saying.
MF:My dress doesnt fit [laughter].
Not really, no.
Much more eventful, this one.
Much more eventful, in really entertaining thrill-riding ways.
MG:Its not about the canapes!
He doesnt really hate Moriarty, apparently [in reference to the almost kiss inThe Empty Hearse].
CM:Can we just confirm that Moriarty is definitely dead?
As dead as someone in Sherlock can be, or actually dead?
SM:They did not fake suicide at each other.
Audience member 5:Your version of Sebastian Moran is quite a step away from a sniper.
Could you tell us about that?
Its just a wonderful excuse to have a great time.
Audience member 6:What were Benedict, Martin and Marks favourite scenes to film in this one?
MF:Were kind of spoilt for choice really.
I did enjoy filming in the tube train, I thought that was fun.
Audience member 6:Where you were mournfully staring forward?
MF:Just me doing that [crosses arms].
We couldnt get a real tube train, so it was incredible.
BC:[To Mark] Do you want to go next, because Im still thinking.
MG:We do play that in real life, and get nothing right.
I liked the one in the tube as well, that was a fun day.
Read ourspoiler-filled review of The Empty Hearse, here.
