10 Amazing TV Episodes (That Doomed Great Shows)

The Reichenbach Fall put Sherlock in an impossible position: kill himself and save his friends, or kill Moriarty and lose all proof of his innocence. Moriarty had successfully framed him as the perpetrator behind every case so far - could this really be the end of Sherlock?

When Moriarty puts a bullet through his own brain rather than concede victory, viewers could scarcely believe what they were watching; Sherlock 'dying' is one thing, he would clearly be back, and is revealed to be very much alive at the end of the episode, but Moriarty? Surely not!

This episode would be the creative apex reached by writers Gatiss and Moffat and further instalments never managed to top it, for where could they possibly go from there?

Moriarty's suicide was an extremely bold move and made for perhaps one of the greatest episodes of Christmas TV ever, but it effectively wrote Sherlock into a creative corner, and one that would force the writers into teasing his (impossible) return in subsequent storylines.

The episode owes much to The Dark Knight; Sherlock is faced with an intellectual equal and a villain willing to end his own life to beat our hero, but the Joker effectively won and survived - Moriarty was very much dead.

The Reichenbach Fall is undeniably brilliant, it's just a shame that Gatiss and Moffatt could not move on from the character, attempting to 'resurrect' him several times, even though his brains were splashed over the top of a London rooftop, permanently.