Sherlock in freefall as the big finale gets its lowest audience ever

IT was supposed to be a dramatic climax, but in the end it was a damp squib.

The final episode of Sherlock was watched live by just 5.9million viewers – its smallest ever audience and fewer than Antiques Roadshow or Countryfile.

The figure was a marked slump from New Year’s Day, when 8.1million tuned in, and an even bigger fall from 2014, when nearly 13million watched to see how the ace sleuth had survived an apparently fatal fall.

Sunday night’s Antiques Roadshow beat the drama by 7,000. Countryfile pulled in 6.7million.

Sherlock’s figures echo a review by Daily Mail TV critic Christopher Stevens, who gave it zero stars for an ‘incompetent’ plot and ‘dreadful’ dialogue. He concluded BBC bigwigs had ‘such contempt’ for licence fee payers that they do not care whether normal families enjoy the show.

Frustrated fans said the storylines had become too confusing and that the finale – entitled The Final Problem – was ‘totally over the top’. ‘[Creator] Steven Moffat spends too much time trying to be too clever for his own good,’ said one viewer on Twitter.

BBC insiders said the ratings slump was partly because more people are recording shows to watch later, or viewing on catchup services. According to consolidated ratings yesterday – which include such viewers – 9.5million people have watched.

The Russian-language version of the episode was leaked online.

The BBC is investigating whether Sherlock’s Russian broadcaster Channel One deliberately released it, or whether it was stolen by Russian hackers. Channel One denied any wrongdoing.