Sherlock Series 3: 20 Canonical References You May Have Missed

18. "I Know Ash!"

During the pub crawl, thoughtfully constructed by Sherlock to include every street where they have found a dead body, there is scene where a drunken Sherlock gets into an argument with somebody and shouts "I know ash!" before being dragged away by John. Arguing with Sherlock Holmes about ash is probably not the smartest thing to do, seeing that he has stated in A Scandal In Belgravia that he can identify 243 different kinds of tobacco ash. Both are references to the canon, where Holmes has written a monograph and claims to be able to distinguish the difference between 140 different kinds of tobacco ash.

17. Arrest Of The Mayfly Man

The arrest of the mayfly man in The Sign of Three, Sherlock luring him back to the reception and then quickly handcuffing him, is almost exactly how he catches two different criminals in the canon. In A Study In Scarlet, Holmes tricks the culprit into coming into his flat and then abruptly handcuffs him. Holmes uses almost exactly the same method in The Adventure of Black Peter, first by posting a fake job listing and then quickly handcuffing the culprit upon arrival. The name of the mayfly man, Jonathan Small, is a reference to a villain of the same name in The Sign of Four.

16. The Sussex Cottage

In His Last Vow, Janine, fresh off of her lucrative relationship with Sherlock, visits him in the hospital and tells him that she is planning to buy a cottage in Sussex, though there are some beehives that she will need to remove. In Doyle's original story, His Last Bow, Sherlock Holmes has retired to a cottage in Sussex, and spends his time beekeeping and writing his definitive work on investigation.