Sherlock fans kept the passion for their show alive during a two-year hiatus. It was the constant speculation on how their hero faked his own death, that meant that Sherlock Holmes never really felt like he had been away when he returned on New Year's Day. Sure enough, the fans were given their reward; a group of them were depicted in the episode, theorising over how Sherlock had done it. The Doctor Who community however laughs in the face of a two-year hiatus. Their show was off air for sixteen lonely years, bridged only by a TV movie that twisted continuity and disappointed many. When the show returned in 2005, it returned bigger, stronger, and with a whole new legion of Whovians; "It's the show you just can't kill," Steven Moffat would later remark, in reference to the fact that it was fans, like Russell T Davies, Gareth Roberts, Moffat himself and Paul Cornell, who kept writing material inspired by the adventures of a madman in a box. Doctor Who fans are recognised these days as some of the most passionate on the planet, both in the show and outside of it. It's a wonderful nod when writers recognise the power of the Doctor in the real world; after all, he's a cultural icon, 51 years and still going. Here are ten of the most wonderful moments when the fans were referenced and represented in the show.
