This story, in which Holmes is revealed to have survived his supposedly fatal tumble from the Reichenbach Falls, is something of a no brainer to inspire this Wednesday's episode of Sherlock to some extent. The episode's title, The Empty Hearse, references the original story and its writer, Gatiss, has referred to it as: "a loose adaptation". From both the new series' trailer and the Christmas mini-episode, Many Happy Returns, it is apparent that The Empty Hearse is likely to use quite a few elements of the original story. In Doyle's Empty House it is revealed that Holmes faked his death in order to track down Moriarty's associates with the assistance of his brother Mycroft, the only person who knows he is really alive. The trailer reveals that the TV Mycroft, also played by Gatiss, knows that Holmes is alive and the mini-episode shows him being tracked across Asia and Europe and back towards London, similar to his movements in the story. The actual mystery in The Empty House, beyond simply how Holmes has survived and returned, involves an attempt to capture Moriarty's most dangerous lieutenant: Colonel Sebastian Moran. Moran, who appeared in the Guy Ritchie version Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows as a sharpshooter working with Moriarty, is often thought of as the next most significant Holmes villain and indeed the detective himself described him as "the second most dangerous man in London". Seeing him appear in this week's episode would come as little surprise, then. On the other hand, there is likely to be some significant differences from Doyle's story. In particular, Gatiss has the advantage of never having intended to kill Holmes off for real and, therefore, hopefully building in a potential method of survival rather than utilise Doyle's ass-pull of made up martial art baritsu. How well plotted Sherlock's return will be remains to be seen, but expect it to be completely different from Doyle's solution.
