Sherlock in freefall as big finale gets show’s lowest-ever audience
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 only 5.9million viewers – its smallest ever audience and fewer than Antiques Roadshow or Countryfile.
It was a marked slump from New Year’s Day, when 8.1million tuned in, and an even bigger drop from 2014, when nearly 13million watched to see how the ace sleuth played by Benedict Cumberbatch 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 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’.
One Twitter user accused creator Steven Moffat of ‘trying to be too clever for his own good’.
BBC insiders said the slump was partly due to people recording shows to watch later, or viewing on catch-up services. According to consolidated ratings yesterday – which include such viewers – 9.5million people have watched the show.
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 hackers.