#during the reichenbach falls episode and this

[inkivaarinensart]

Rewatching the series and knowing this was coming: I wont cry. I wont cry. I will not-

*Painful calls from Watson*

Ah goddamnit tearducts you have betrayed me

so did YOU cry at jeremy brett holmes almost calling out to a devastated watson across the reichenbach falls but stopping himself at the last second or are you a fucking liar

[i-dont-talk-for-days-on-end]

I also think it's really interesting how they chose to address Holmes's substance abuse in Granada's Devil's Foot (because if I remember correctly, it's not this way in canon, there it's just stated that Holmes was exhausted and needed to recover). So they first show Holmes using (or preparing to use), then swearing off the drugs, but later in the episode he goes through a literal horror trip when he's under the influence of the devil's foot.

And I cannot help but wonder ... Holmes has a strong will, and he has decided to forsake the drugs. But there's this strange powder on the lamp, and this is for science, and he knows he will likely experience horrors beyond this comprehension, but he's been in a strange, muted state of despair during his stay in Cornwall anyway, and he's curious, and maybe he just needs to get out of his skin.

So there he goes. He needs to know and someone needs to try it, so it's the only logical solution. And despite everything, he's still careless.

When I first watched this sequence, I wasn't such a fan, but the longer I think about it, the more I think it's very cleverly done. They manage to bring up a lot of things that are haunting Holmes, and maybe even to make a meta commentary on the story (or that's just me overinterpreting things as usual).

He's clearly HIGH. He's running. He's approaching a grave, death. Then he's not. Cut to the swirling water. Holmes has been dead before, perished at the Reichenbach Falls. He was dead because he was dead in Watson's writing. It has been implied heavily before in the episode that he was sick and thinking about death. Watson has warned him, and if he continues like this, he might as well be running into his own death for real.

Take a closer look through the magnifying glass. Holmes. This is a self-examination. Still the swirling water. Holmes's younger self. No. Moriarty rushing up to him. (There have been remarks on the similarity between the two.) Then ... I don't know. Hell. Horror. Water. Blood on his face, from his eyes. Seeing and observing is Holmes's way to perceive the world, to make sense of it, so if he's losing his eyes, he's losing his mind. A shot-reverse-shot like montage of Holmes leaning against the tomb, and a distorted memory of Moriarty's face. He's falling and he can't get out of his head and he's losing control and he's falling and falling -

And then ... John.

[know-you-for-real]

THIS. Probably the word 'chemistry' is not enough. But I miss this, I miss to see them together on and off screen. I miss waiting for a new episode. I miss the way they made everything so natural and heartwarming. I miss Ben and Martin. I miss BBC Sherlock.

'A point we would particularly like to share however is the obviously very close relationship shared between Benedict and Martin. It is well documented that Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke were in fact best friends on and off the Granada Sherlock Holmes series and the friendship between Benedict and Martin in real life certainly appears to be also very strong. There was a very touching moment between them on Wednesday; Martin had arrived on set several hours after Benedict, and when Benedict spotted him he went straight up to Martin who was standing by the monitors and gave him a huge hug. It was lovely to see, especially as they continued to talk, Benedict standing in the road and Martin on the pavement (but still managing to be the same height incidentally), Benedict arranged the front of Martin's shirt for him as he talked. There has been a lot of discussion by the writers about the development of Sherlock and John's relationship during this second series and if the little display we witnessed is anything to go by, it will be a wonderful thing to see.'

[bakerstreetbabble]

Granada TV Series Review: "The Empty House" (S03, E01)

And I'm back, after a most enjoyable Holy Week and Easter Sunday! Speaking of "resurrection"...

Sherlock Holmes is back for the second series from Granada TV, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and Edward Hardwicke taking over the role of Dr. John Watson from the inimitable David Burke. I'm sure Sherlockians weren't the only viewers who knew what was coming up in this pivotal episode, and adaptation of "The Empty House."  There are no surprises here, especially when the series has the word "Return" right in its title! 

Other than the slight detail of giving Watson a more active role in the case of the murder of Ronald Adair, the episode follows the original source material very closely. After an opening sequence that is a bit slow, dramatically speaking, we are treated to Holmes's surprise appearance in Watson's office, as he suddenly transforms from the old book seller into the great detective, causing Watson to faint "for the first and the last time in my life," as Watson puts it in the story. For me (and no doubt, for most viewers) this reunion scene was the main source of enjoyment. Much of the story is told in flashbacks, as Holmes relates what really happened at the Reichenbach Falls. Indeed, if one looks very closely, one can see that all the wide shots of Watson searching in vain for his friend are actually shots of David Burke playing the role in the previous season.

There's a very brief but very emotionally stirring moment during the flashback, when Jeremy Brett as Holmes just begins to shout out Watson's name, but immediately stops himself. It's a beautiful little detail that shows the deep fondness Holmes feels for his friend. Indeed, Watson's response to hearing that Holmes has kept the secret of his survival for THREE YEARS is remarkably gentle. It wouldn't be any stain on Watson's character if he had been just a bit angrier. However, Edward Hardwicke does show a bit of sadness, as he tells Holmes that he believes he could have been at least as deserving of Sherlock's confidence as his brother Mycroft. 

Concerning Edward Hardwicke, he really did do a fine job at stepping into a role that had been played so capably by David Burke. Perhaps because Brett was already so comfortable in the role of Holmes, Hardwicke was able to make the transition into Watson's role as smoothly as possible. I still prefer Burke just a bit, but it will be interesting to watch the process of Hardwicke bringing his own skill set into the production. Certainly, by the end of the Granada series, Hardwicke was able to play Watson in a far greater number of adventures than his predecessor.

While it wasn't the most exciting episode I've seen thus far, "The Empty House" was a perfectly respectable way to begin the next phase of the Granada productions. And as I've mentioned, the joy of watching the Holmes/Watson duo resume their partnership was definitely worth the time I spent watching. Enjoy watching the YouTube video shared below! Once again, the game is afoot!

[darlinghowl]

sherlock crying on the phone with john trying to prove he’s a “fraud” during the reichenbach fall: i researched you, looked up all that stuff about your sister. wanted to impress you. i’m a fake

me, who’s not an idiot: you literally just an episode ago proved that two ppl sitting in the restaurant behind you were mother and son going out to eat so he could beg his mom for money to prove you were of sound mind. what are you FUCKING talking about

[its-all-ineffable]

Do you have a favorite vulnerable Sherlock moment, and why does that one strike you more than the rest of his?

Lunar, you're like my favourite person on Earth right now.😘💕

I mean, there are so many to pick from, like...ARGH! Picking one fave is always so hard.

Okay, honourable mention to the "I love you" scene with Molly in The Final Problem, because that entire scene was so tense - watching it for the first time was nerve-wracking and my stomach was in knots - and the way he says "I love you." the second time like...He said it once because Molly refused to say it without him saying it first, but when he says it the second time you can see he genuinely means it and is surprised by that, but he wants Molly to know. Just, that entire scene is perfection.

But my favourite, if I had to pick one? The phone call in The Reichenbach Fall. Of course, we all know that Sherlock fakes his death, and that he knows he'll survive, but that phone call meant something to him. That was his goodbye to John because even though Sherlock was going to survive, he had to leave John for a long time to dismantle Moriarty's network and keep John, Mrs Hudson, Lestrade and the others safe. And Sherlock was emotional during it, no matter what happened/how he faked his death.

That phone call hurt him to make, and in TRF, we see a shot of Sherlock, on the phone, CRYING. He is crying. He is saying goodbye to his best friend in all the world, the man he loves fiercely (romantically or platonically, depending on your view point, but he does love John), the person who's praised him and supported him and believed in him. And a tear falls down his face and his voice breaks. And every time I watch that episode it breaks my heart. Because Sherlock has to try and turn John against him in order to save John's life, to protect him, and then he has to fake his death and leave everything he knows behind. He's loosing everything he cares about, and no matter what actually happened, no one will ever convince me that Sherlock was faking being heartbroken and scared in that scene.

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[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 6

“A Study in Pink”

Immediately, I like how more drawn out the opening sequence is. John is so much more of a mess than in the unaided pilot, and it looks like he’s actually trying to write in his blog

Mmmmm and the classic opening theme sequence

Man, the amount of things they cut out, like actually seeing the circumstances the victims were in and the Scotland Yard press conference.

I don’t know that I’d just let some stranger text from my phone without good reason…and not having a signal in a basement in a large city just doesn’t cut it for me, I think…

All of John’s concerns about going to look at the flat are valid and YET HE DOES STILL GO ALONG WITH IT

“Yeah, he’s always like that,” and again JOHN STILL WENT. Secret good fourth episode (or season 5) pull throuuuuugh

I’d love to live that close to a little sandwich shop

Oh and there’s the 221b I rememberrrrrrr

Is all of this queerbait-y as hell? Obviously, but am I understanding more now why people shipped it in the first place? Yeaaahhhhhhhh

What IS the cinematography in this sometimes??? It’s so odd

Also why is it night all of a sudden?? It was like early afternoon when they got in the cab

Ok. THE scene with the phone deduction. He calls it a shot in the dark to deduce Harry’s alcohol dependence, but then says that a sober person would never have those particular scratches on their phone, so now…now I think he’s an extension of the Gilmore family in Gilmore Girls or an Aaron Sorkin character: talk quickly and confidently enough and you’ll sound like you know what you’re talking about

Another difference in between the unaired pilot and this is when Sherlock talks to Anderson and Donovan. He may have been brash and blunt in the pilot, but it felt like more of a retort back to them. Here he relishes in his cruelty. Pilot Sherlock is far more human, and I think they should have kept some of that

I take back what I said about keeping the scenes of Sherlock searching for the pink suitcase. Those can fuck right off because now we’re gonna get MYCROFT.

That chat between Sally and John is…like how long do you think Moffat was just FOAMING at the mouth writing that or remembering he wrote that when it came time for The Reichenbach Fall?? Between the “we’ll be standing around a body and Sherlock Holmes will be the one who put it there” and “he’s a psychopath. Psychopaths get bored.” But that second one for Moriarty…god, he must have been insufferable to be around

Legitimately obsessed with the Mycroft and John dynamic immediately. I love that Mycroft is playing this game for his brother’s sake. This level of drama? This is not for Mycroft. It’s 100% for Sherlock, but also John is having none of it. He just got ditched by one Holmes brother, he doesn’t have time for this one’s bullshit, even if he doesn’t realize he’s a Holmes

(How am I less than half way through the episode???)

Sherlock realizing it was Mycroft after hearing archenemy. Pure sibling behavior

The restaurant and restaurant owner in the pilot were better…that restaurant was so cozy and the owner so giddy and warm and lovable. These don’t stack up…

They really do the weirdest, dumbest things with the camera sometimes. And we all thought it was brilliant at the time

I think the worst part is that this episode is actually very good…and it all ends with the travesty that is season four. It’s not above reproach, but this episode IS good

The switch to make the murderer connected to Moriarty was a good one. AND the one to make Sherlock under less duress during the game. It’s a lot more interesting if it’s about his ego

God that got long…

[sinmenon]

At long last, Awakened remake.

The place is in utter disarray as Holmes is in one of his episodes. It lacks the pieces above the doorframes as it is going to be a future adventure. The entrance to the bedrooms is blocked by the armchairs, there is a jar of dirty samples from Grand Saray and instead of the Reichenbach Falls we see the Holmes family picture (probably a reproduction, as the original is too big for the area). We have the mask that Vogel wore for the masquerade at Manchios state during the Sacrificial Lamb case (I find it interesting it is Vogel's and not Holmes' mask. A trophy/memento ? ) with the sword display. There is a map of Cordona on the table next to it. The chemistry isn't functional in this game, but we can see a picture of Lupin and another profile picture, that we also see in other titles. One of the frames that can be seen in the older titles is on the floor next to the violin and on the other side of the bed there is a newspaper mentioning the Orient Express. Nearby there is also another newspaper hinting to one of the other locations of the game: New Orleans. You can also see the globe by the door that is similar to the one in Cordona, but another area later in the game uses the same model.

I'm pretty sure there are dozens of other details I'm missing. If he returns to London and the apartment is in better shape I'll also take screenshots.

This book has 3 holes, I'm almost certain it is a reference.

I wished more elements of this area were interactive but maybe they kept it lean because it is the tutorial.

Bonus:

Once again tagging @hey-sherry

Edit: We revisit the apartment later

Nemesis - Testament - Crimes and Punishments

The evolution of Frogwares' Holmes' apartment. They keep a number of elements like the same picture frames and even the little dancing men.

The biggest difference between Nemesis and Jack the Ripper is that the left wall now has a lot of more things pinned against it, and then some of the cluster was removed in Testament only to be brought back in Crimes and Punishments and in Devil's Daughter.

In Devil's Daughter, they change the color of the armchairs by the fire and remove the spear from above John's door (because other characters are going to use the room).

One of the things that I noticed is that the chessboard pieces are exactly in the same position. So, curious as I was, I decided to go back to Chapter One to double-check Violet's room and it was different (makes sense, it was a challenge from Jon).

The concept previews from the Awakened remake stay pretty close to the layouts from Testament onward with the bay window. I grabbed this one from @hey-sherry

I might entertain doing the comparisons from Crimes and Punishments and the Awakened remake in April, but so far I believe it will be mostly a graphic overhaul, we can see some bits from the old design such as the swords and shield and the shotgun.

[mycrofts-umbrella-in-the-tardis]

The "Timeline"

The Sherlock Timeline with shipping goggles set to Mystrade.

(Please feel free to add on to this if I missed anything!)

(I also apologise for any spelling errors.)

Pre-season 1 / Pre-canon

We don't know exactly how Lestrade and Sherlock met, but enough headcanons have convinced me that William here walked onto a crime scene, and Greg decided to believe in him. (of course, granted he get off drugs, as most headcanons have said.)

In the pilot, Mycroft interrogated John within a day of knowing Sherlock. We can assume that he'd do the same with anyone that walked into his brother's life... meaning that he must have done a similar interrogation with Greg.

Like I said, we don't know much about pre-canon, including when Sherlock and Lestrade met. Despite this, I believe that it's possible that Lestrade had to have become somewhat acquainted with Mycroft. Whether or not a relationship beyond platonic began here is up to you.

Season 1

At the end of A Study in Pink, Mycroft and Lestrade know that Sherlock now has a flatmate that will be there for him. As we know, both Mycroft and Greg are protective of Sherlock, almost like parental figures. (why do you think we keep calling him Papa Lestrade?)

So having John walk into Sherlock's life is kind of the equivalent to overworked parents getting a babysitter.

This is where The Blind Banker comes in.

I'm pretty sure that another tumblr, @dalec, mentioned it before, but there is no way that the two didn't go on some nice holiday during the entire episode, seeing as they weren't there at all.

I don't think there's anything to work with in The Great Game, so I'll just skip over to...

Season 2

Ah yes. The peak of the show, in my personal opinion.

Once again, although Mycroft made an appearance in this episode quite a couple of times (6, if i'm correct) I don't think there's any details to point out here, except for the fact that we know that Greg and his wife are separated/divorced. (Christmas party.)

Now... Hounds of Baskerville.

This episode marked a very important moment (if not the catalyst) of Mystrade.

Fact: Sherlock (and the audience) know that Lestrade went on a holiday.

Fact: We know that Mycroft asked Lestrade to look after his brother.

Fact: It's confirmed that Mycroft and Lestrade s p o k e to each other.

So, we know that Lestrade went on holiday after what we can assume is his divorce.

So who do you think he went with?

Alone? That's likely. But having him go with Mycroft on another holiday makes more sense.

Moving on from HoB, we meet ourselves at The Reichenbach Fall. The events that happened here are very significant. If Mycroft and Lestrade ever had a relationship, this episode complicated things to the max.

So, sad times for about 2 years. We now go to...

Season 3

So Sherlock's alive, and now everyone knows. If you follow the storyline of "Mycroft and Greg were together for those 2 sad years" then you better believe that there. Will. Be. Problems.

If you don't think they were together at this point, that's also fine. But you have to admit that even if they were just friends, Greg must've felt betrayed. (I'm not gonna say that it's groundwork for an angsty fic, but it's groundwork for an angsty fic.)

Okay, onto The Sign of Three.

John and Mary's wedding, lots of people are there, including Lestrade, and excluding Mycroft.

There was a headcanon I saw that said that the reason he didn't go was because if he did, then Sherlock would deduce that Mycroft and Lestrade were hooking up/dating.

Another post on Tumblr said that Greg was disappointed not to see Mycroft at the wedding, and he decided to drink the night away to cope.

Both of these I love.

ALSO I can't mention TSoT without mentioning the tie thing.

I know people already said that the two ties have different patterns, but I still had to mention it.

Now... His Last Vow. Another historical moment because...

you guessed it, our two favorite idiots were in a scene together for the first time.

Yes, Mycroft waves Lestrade away, like, right after he speaks, but. There. Was. Definitely. A. Moment.

Maybe.

Okay, now's time for...

The Abominable Bride

Graveyard scene. Just... graveyard scene.

Season 4

Once again, Mycroft and Lestrade are in the same scene together, BUT there is another thing to point out from earlier in the episode.

Sherlock points out that Lestrade is going on a date with "The Brunette," who is supposedly a woman.

Okay, sure.

I like to believe he was going on a date with Mycroft, but do with that information what you will.

(Btw thank you @lavenderandvanilla for your fic using this idea.)

I don't think that The Lying Detective gives us anything to work with, aside from the setup to a hurt/comfort fic, like the one written by @smartforholmes.

And with that, we move to The Final Problem.

Mycroft has a traumatizing night at his house, The Bakerstreet Boys are kidnapped by Eurus, but they make it out alive, so everything's okay. /s

As we all know, this episode marks the final historical moment of this ship:

"Oh, and Mycroft. Make sure he's looked after. He's not as strong as he thinks he is."

"I'll take care of it."

I'll take care of it.

Repeat, Greg Lestrade will take care of it. And by it, he means Mycroft.

Greg Lestrade will take care of Mycroft.

Conclusion:

Gay.

(An extra thank you to everyone from the Mystrade fandom for being so active in the community and inspiring me to make this.)

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello Steph! I am so glad you have taken the time to read this request, and I just add that these blogs have cured me of boredom. Never again shall I go bored without a good fic to read. Anyways, do you have any recommendations for meetings between Sherlock and John after the events of "The Reichenbach Fall" episode in the BBC series? Any will do, I appreciate both sad and happy endings. I apologise if this question/request has been asked before :( Hope you have a nice day!

Hey Nonny!

Ah, thanks for your lovely comments! You're very sweet!

And never apologize, I never mind helping people find posts on my ridiculously huge blog, heh.

It think you will enjoy these lists:

Post-TRF Divergence

Reverse Reichenbach

Reverse Reichenbach Pt. 2

John Jumps Instead of Sherlock in TRF

John Fakes his Death

Reunion and Other Post TRF Fics

Reunion and Other Post TRF Fics Pt. 2

Reunion and Other Post-TRF Fics Pt. 3

John Finds Out About Hiatus

John Joins Sherlock During Hiatus

Sherlock Returns from Hiatus Injured 

The Empty Hearse-Related Fics

And you can also peruse my 'post trf fics' and 'reunion fics' blog tags!

Anyone have any new ones they want to suggest for Nonny?

[notyetbulletproof]

Honestly,

They should have given us like 2 more episodes of Elementary.

1) to properly tie up the Reichenbach thing

- I wanted to see him pay

- also watching the aftermath of Sherlock’s “death” and at the end of the episode hearing his voice-over from a letter to Joan. We (audience) could have seen his exploits in another country in snippets or have flashbacks of him and joan’s plan (i.e what we briefly saw in the finale).

2) a proper funeral/memorial for Morland Holmes and all who were lost because of the betrayal. Or better yet! Surprise! He slithered away from death. That whole emotional hit then giving Joan cancer was just unnecessarily painful!

3) if Joan must have cancer to up the stakes and make these 2 fools be honest that they really need the other and as the Captain said “when you love someone big enough, you allow them to love you”—- or something like this, then show us the support! Show us him sitting with her through chemotherapy. Testing her on various things, keeping her sharp. Looking after her (as we know he did) and most of all— Looking out for Arthur.

Come on! Imagine Arthur going “uncle detective!” during school pick ups or martial arts practices. Or him falling asleep next to Joan one night and Sherlock helping carry him to bed while Joan turns in for the night.

Then one night as he’s going to bed, he asks Sherlock if his mum is going to be okay and Sherlock says “she is going to be okay, I promise” and it’s a throwback to when he promised to protect Watson and she told him he couldn’t promise that and he responded with “and yet I did”. Finally Arthur would say “uncle Sherlock, that’s a big promise” and Sherlock would say “and yet I made it. I intend to keep it”. Arthur would smile, be tucked in and head to sleep.

LIKE GIVE ME MORE ARTHUR AND SHERLOCK??? I mean “it’s an honour to make your acquaintance” was super cute and I would have like more of that. Or Sherlock investigating weird stuff at his school and people being all “who is that? What is he doing” and Arthur going “oh that’s just my Uncle Detective. He knows everything”.

It’s my head canon that Sherlock beams and is super excited when his godson or nephew finds him cool. And both Joan and Kitty roll their eyes every time.

4) Kitty and Archie coming back for the finale. Seeing more of Marcus’s and Sherlock’s interactions post him coming back. How did they adapt. Marcus was upset but not unforgiving. How did they bury that hatchet? Let them have one proper case of them being awesome or like about to start one. You know? Like they get a call to consult.

5) Moriarty. Just a smidge more. Yeah, most of the episode was connecting her to Sherlock and Joan and how her “death” was questionable and clearly a ploy. It still would have been cool to have her try and reach out since Morland is gone and she’s rising in the ranks again. To take her power. I get the game is indeed afoot but it would have been cool to see it. I liked the whole “do we have a shovel?” So Sherlock could prove she wasn’t dead.

6) more episodes just so I could have more of Joan and Sherlock before we had to say goodbye. Honestly Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu hit it out of the park and Elementary is my fave iteration of Sherlock. I think I’m gonna keep rewatching it. It’s one of those shows you know??

[ogsherlockholmes]

I can not believe that it’s been ten years since The Reichenbach Fall was released (This is BBC Sherlock, the ACD one was released way over ten years ago). 

It’s weird of me to say this though, because I never actually watched it when it was released. I only got into it during the first lockdown, and I’m kind of sad that I missed out on the whole drama around it (I have heard that the fandom was a bit toxic during that time though, I’m not sure). However, at least I didn’t have to wait two years for three episodes, only now I’m waiting for a season 5 that probably won’t happen (sorry). I am very glad that the fandom is still somewhat alive though. 

[fffinnagain]

10 Years of Sherlock (TV)  AO3 stats!

Sherlock fans, new and old, click below to read a long list of graphs and comments about our communities fanworks over the last 10 years. I scraped AO3 again and demonstrate that:

More creators are writing longer works in 2020

Readers engaged more as the fandom changed after S4

Top ten new tags per year for the last 10 years

And a lot more. 

PS the code to gather this data and analyse it can be found way over here. 

Activity over 10 years

The last 10 years in the BBC Sherlock fandom have been tumultuous, but this community persists, with engagement from new fans and continued creative output. To commemorate over a decade of squee, I’ve done another scrape of the fandom’s imprint on the Archive of Our Own and will share some insights from the numbers in these plots. A very late update on my post S4 snapshot from 2018.

Note: This analysis is of completed public fanworks only, about 101000 of the 122000 Sherlock (TV) works available at present. This is to remove the late WIP effect, which adds a bulge to the last few months, and out of respect to creators who wish to have their material reserved for other registered AO3 users.

The works are still coming

Counting the number of works posted per day, we can see the peaks associated with each series airing (in UK and US). After that, the number of works continues fairly evenly, 20-30 per day, plus seasonal peaks. This rate is continuing on without a hint of new canon in sight. So who is posting all this work?

Creator-waves, monthly output

Years ago I started plotting creator waves, basically I group fanwork producers by the year they first posted to the fandom and then count how many of this group are active in later time intervals. This lets us get a sense of how long people are contributing and whether new fans are getting the urge to create. 

This plot of the Sherlock (TV) fanworks on AO3 shows the standard shape of plump participation in the first year of any given set of creators, followed by a slowly thinning tail as they because less active over time. Turnover is natural in fandoms, with most only posting a work or two within a fairly limited amount of time, while a precious few persist for years.  The surprise for me here is that the ratio of new creators is higher in 2020 than it was in 2019. Maybe the excuse of lockdown encouraged more folks to take a turn at creating content. 

Another way to look at the output of fan creators on AO3 is to see the total amount of words being shared across all fanworks. The total has been pretty close to 300-400k words per month since 2018! To get a sense of what that means per work, I also plotted the median number of words per fanwork in these monthly sets. The median in higher in the last year than it had been staying for a while. 

Reader behaviour: Hits & Kudos & Comments

Fan creators are only part of the story. Stats on engagement are a bit trick to interpret, I’ve got some plots here that tell us something about how works have been engaged with over time. 

The obvious first to consider is Hits. Above is the total number of Hits given to works published each month. This is the current totals, not a historical snapshot, so we have a very strong bias  towards early works, what we might call the Classics Effect. Works that have been around longer have had the chance to be seen by more people, and in particular those works that become must-read classics in a fandom, extending their exposure through prominence in top ranked works and recommendations. 

To cut down on the advantage of the classics, we can also consider median hits per work for each month. As most works get a lot attention when they are first posted and then fade out of sight, the median number of hits reflects instead the ratio of readers to creators, basically how many eyeballs are around to look at the latest work, regardless of status. The median plot shows how the hyper-visibility of the few work available before 2012, and then a more steady curve once the fandom had gotten established on the platform after Series 2. Amazingly, the hit rate for the median work was steady through the big bumps in activity with later series, a 1000 hits for median works between 2013 and 2018, followed by a slow decline. I’d expect the 2020 works to continue gaining for a few months yet, but the median is probably 50-60% of what is was when the show was in production.

Kudos counts and medians show a similar story to hits, but there is a dip down around 2013 for kudos reflects the frenzy of productivity that saw the fandom grow during the Series 2 hiatus. Readers were getting spoiled! From the airing of Series 3 (2014) until a year following Series 4 (2018), the median work received an even 60ish kudos and 1000 hits, a niche audience that decreased to 50/750 through 2018-2019. The numbers of 2020 suggest a smaller community of readers again, though these numbers may still rise a bit in the next few months before the median works are forgotten. 

The statistic that tells a different story is Comments. Looking at the total comments counts, there isn’t a drop after Series 3 (2014). Instead, the fandom compensated for changing numbers with more feedback and discussion attached to works. This is reflected in the median comment rate as well, which shows seasonal variation but doesn’t really drop off until 2020.

It’s remarkable that without fresh canon we continue to have new creators contributing to the fandom, and while that may be outpacing the readership somewhat, the standard of engagement has been very high. One could say the fandom is chugging along quite nicely!

What about Tags

So, with all that turnover and shifting population, is there a change in the kinds of works being posted? We can look at tags, all tags and freeform tags, to see if there were any meaningful trends. 

First up, I did a creator-wave like analysis of works just for tags, to see how tags continue to be used after being introduced. Unlike the creators, tags clearly persist for years. After 2015, it looks like the core tag set has been established, with very few tags persisting in usage per  subsequent year.

This graph reports numbers over time that are not proportional to the number of works or creators active. Instead, works on AO3 have been getting more and more tags over the years, with the average steadily growing from 5 in 2011 to 15 in 2020, with freeform tags (not characters or ships) from 2 to 8.

To get a sense of fic and tagging culture changes over time, I counted the most popular NEW tags of each year (wave). Note: this analysis is using exact matches, not the networked associations of tag meanings wrangled into AO3 today, so some things that pop up aren’t new concepts but instead newly popular TAGs for whatever they represent. 

2011: 2752 (First year, so all solid stuff, tags that continue to be popular forever)

Angst                 323

Fluff                 232

Humor                 216

Hurt/Comfort          188

Romance               168

Friendship            168

Crossover             138

Crack                 121

Alternate Universe    119

First Time            106

2012: 11637 (still early, first references to Series 2)

Fluff and Angst                           145

Episode: s02e03 The Reichenbach Fall       97

Kid Sherlock                               54

Puppies                                    50

Sad                                        48

Episode: s02e01 A Scandal in Belgravia     47

Mathematics                                42

Season 2 spoilers                          38

Omega Verse                                38

Feels                                      38

2013: 16176 (Omegaverse nomenclature is growing, Top/Bottom terminology, new challenges)

Alpha Sherlock                               65

Omega John                                   61

30 Day OTP Challenge                         59

Tumblr: letswritesherlock                    56

Top John                                     49

Sherlock Holmes Returns after Reichenbach    44

Bottom Sherlock                              40

Reichenbach Angst                            30

Don't copy work to another site              29

Age Regression/De-Aging                      27

2014: 19256 (Mostly Series 3 related

Episode: s03e03 His Last Vow         249

Episode: s03e02 The Sign of Three    167

Post-His Last Vow                    149

His Last Vow Spoilers                142

Sherlock Series 3 Spoilers           128

2000 AU                              100

The Sign of Three Spoilers            74

Fatlock                               72

Post-The Sign of Three                66

Post-Season/Series 03                 57

2015: 14272 (New challenges, new prominent Sherlolly tags)

Chats                                      47

International Fanworks Day 2015            34

Watson's Woes July Writing Prompts 2015    27

S3 referenced                              25

Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Kissing       22

English Accent                             22

Sound cloud                                19

Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper      19

Protective John Watson                     18

but not that kind of graphic               17

2016: 13517 (New stylistic tagging, TAB references, a lot of epilepsy?)

Slowwww burn                         92

John Watson Loves Sherlock Holmes    37

Sherlock Holmes Loves John Watson    33

post-tab                             30

JME                                  27

Post TAB                             25

Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy          23

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2016     19

epileptic                            19

fraternal love                       17

2017: 15067 (Series 4 tags and challenges)

Episode: s04e02 The Lying Detective         133

Episode: s04e01 The Six Thatchers            93

Post TFP                                     73

Sherlock Series 4 Spoilers                   69

Episode: s04e03 The Final Problem            60

Post-Episode: s04e02 The Lying Detective     55

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2017             50

Post S4                                      48

Sherstrade Month 2017                        44

31 Days of Porn Challenge 2017               41

2018: 10733 (Lost of new challenges, seasonal and weekly)

Towel Day 2018                       64

Mystrade Valentines Calendar 2018    25

Kinktober 2018                       23

Pregnant Molly Hooper                23

Soft Smut Sunday                     23

Tom Robbins                          23

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2018     21

Inktober 2018                        20

established universe                 16

Always1895                           16

2019: 7785 (More prompts, and character attitudes)

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2019    25

221B Autumn Challenge               21

A-Z Christmas Prompt                19

KatsJohnlockXmas2019                16

Whumptober                          11

Poor Greg Lestrade                  11

Kinktober 2019                      10

Dissonance                          10

John Watson is a Good Friend         9

Sleepy Sherlock Holmes               8

2020: 8074 (Not all COVID related, thank heavens)

Mystrade Monday                           59

COVID-19                                  48

Coronavirus                               46

Mystrade Monday Prompts                   40

Whumptober 2020                           36

warning for a covid-19 setting            33

Flufftober prompts 2020                   24

Do Not Translate                          24

they're all right they're just at home    23

Granada Sherlolly                         21

A little note from looking across all freeform tags, not just the new ones, we see a curious pattern with regards to two actions: First Kiss and Anal Sex. They appear amongst the most common tags as of 2014, neck in neck for two years, than Anal Sex drops off the top ten in 2016. From there out, First Kiss stays in the top 5 from that point on, while anal sex appears at rank 9 from 2017-2019 and is gone again in 2020. This probably says something about the fandom, somehow. 

Bravo for making it to the end and thank you for reading! 

Questions/comments welcome.

[allanalightwood]

It's been talked about before but like I just wanted to share what I thought of it-

During s1 and s2 of Sherlock people said that Sherlock is neither a bad guy or a good guy. "I may be on the side of the angels but don't think for one second that I am one of them." So like antihero? Antivillain? Not sure. Then I remembered the 'A hero would sacrifice you for the world to show that they were pure and worthy, but a villain would watch the world burn to make sure you were safe.' quote.

During The Reichenbach Fall episode, (spoilers) when Sherlock falls to his "death" he was sacrificing John, he didn't see John for those 2 years to take Moriarty's network apart to save lives. That's the hero part.

The villain part, he sacrificed the world, as in he couldn't go to the places he wanted to go, he couldn't go anywhere because the whole world thought he was dead and he was willing to be tortured too while taking the network apart. He did all that to make sure that John was safe. Because maybe he knew that Moriarty hired some assasins and hitmen when he (Moriarty) died.

If I got anythin wrong lemme know i got obsessed with the show.

[aelaer]

Uhh can I ask for BBC Sherlock fic recs? (Preferably friendship and/or familial fics, but romance is okay too)

Ooohh boy are you in for a list. I know you asked this like, at the start of quarantine or at sometime where I decided that I was no longer interested in communicating with the wider world, but hopefully this will still be of interest to you?

Throughout 2018 I did very little writing because I was busy consuming everything offered by the Sherlock fandom produced over 7-8 years. I definitely read well into the millions of words. A lot of them were from specific collections on both ff.net and AO3. I recommend looking in “collections” on ff.net in particular (as I still can’t really figure out how collections work on AO3 and how to find them easily... it’s really easy to find them on ff.net).

To my knowledge, these are all complete.

If there is any romance tagged here, it’s because it’s really, really fucking good as romance is my least favorite genre. I cannot remember all of them, but there’s a lot of angst, definitely humour, and definitely some great canonical bits. Also whumpy ones that are either really really good or a bit ridiculous but there you go.

It’s long, so under a cut. If the cut doesn’t work, I have tagged it as well.

From ff.net (alphabetical order) - NOTE: I did NOT include anything from the authors I recommended because the list was already too freaking long! But be sure to check out the authors, you can sort by “category” on ff.net on their author page and then go down to “Sherlock” to find their works:

Anything by A Wandering Minstrel (sooooo many genres)

Most anything by chappysmom (tons of genres, some are excellent, some I could take or leave, overall good stuff)

Most anything by Dayja (she writes in a ton of genres, so some I *adore* while others aren’t my cup of tea, but overall good stuff)

Anything by Gwen's Blue Box if you want angst up the wazoo.

Anything by ivywatcher for fantastic character studies.

Most anything by Jennistar1 (another multi-genre writer, both friendship and slashfic)

Anything by Radon65 - a mix of stuff. Canon IIRC.

Anything by Richefic for good, canon-friendly gap-fillers

Anything by StillWaters1 for good, canon-friendly gap-fillers

A Brief Account Of Life With Zombies  by Silver Pard Sherlock thinks it's all a bit of a nuisance, John is having the time of his life, and Mycroft is Not Impressed. With anything, but mostly his minions' inability to provide a good cup of tea. Rated: T - English - Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,384 - Complete

A House is not a Home  by selenityshiroi  This is a prompt fill from the LJ Fic Meme.  John and Sherlock got a flat share because they needed to split the rent.  But when John comes into money, people wonder 'why hasn't he found a place of his own'   The actual prompt is inside the story Rated: T - English - Friendship - Chapters: 1 - Words: 8,190 - John W., Sherlock H. - Complete

Annie's Song  by Berouge She has a second engagement with a man and his violin, in the park, at night. Sherlock's not going for it! ONESHOT! Rated: K - English - Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 8,869 - Sherlock H., Molly Hooper - Complete

Basic Training  by chai4anne Summary: A death at a boys' school leads to conflict and revelations among Lestrade's team, Sherlock, and John. Set between "The Hounds of Baskerville" and "The Reichenbach Fall." No slash. Rated: T - English - Mystery/Friendship - Chapters: 1 - Words: 10,851 - Sherlock H., John W., DI Lestrade, Sgt. S. Donavan - Complete

Breaking Point  by Haelia  When Sherlock and Donovan are abducted and Sherlock is grievously wounded, it is up to Donovan to get them both out.  "First things first, Freak.  You do not give me orders.  You are going to do everything I tell you to," Sally said sharply, "because we are getting out of here."  Can they both escape with their lives from the most dangerous gang in London? Rated: T - English - Mystery/Hurt/Comfort - Chapters: 3 - Words: 14,401 - Sgt. S. Donavan, Sherlock H. - Complete

Firestorm  by Dustbunny13 Sherlock returns, but his friendship with John is damaged. Nevertheless, they embark on their final hunt to finish off Moriarty's net, but it ends in a catastrophe: Sherlock is shot and lapses into a coma. As John keeps vigil, he reads Sherlock's diary written during the hiatus. Slowly, he begins to understand and finds himself wishing for another miracle. Completed. Rated: T - English - Hurt/Comfort/Adventure - Chapters: 53 - Words: 133,754 - Complete NOTE: Probably my favorite novel-length multi-chapter you find only on ff.net for this fandom.

How To Accidentally Summon a Demon  by patster223 Sherlock is possessed by a demon. A damned, wicked soul that uses the kitchen table for blood rituals and experiments. John doesn't even notice the difference. Rated: K+ - English - Supernatural/Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,411 - Sherlock H., John W. - Complete

Kidnapped! A Comedy by scuttlesworth Poor kidnappers. Kidnapping John Watson is like pulling on a thread tied to all sorts of crazy. It's enough to make a bloke get a job and go straight. Rated: T - English - Humor/Friendship - Chapters: 2 - Words: 10,758 - John W. - Complete

Mobile Phones, Rubble and Shock  by prettybirdy979  In the aftermath of the explosion, Lestrade must work to keep Sherlock Holmes alive and make sense of his communications... with only a mobile phone and Sherlock buried under the rubble of the pool. Rated: T - English - Hurt/Comfort/Angst - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,679 - Sherlock H., DI Lestrade - Complete

Mouth of Babes  by Morgan Stuart  Several weeks after the explosion at the pool following "The Great Game" episode, Lestrade visits the recuperating Sherlock and John at 221B Baker Street. He brings case files and food... and a visitor in tow. Rated: K - English - Friendship - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,495 - Sherlock H., DI Lestrade - Complete NOTE: This is a whole series. If you like it, look up the rest under the author. It’s super cute.

Of Surgeons and Soldiers  by EmRose92 Being a doctor has its advantages. He knows how to put people back together, and he knows how to take them apart. 221B is forced into a hostage situation, and John seems to be the only one who has the power to get them out of it. Includes BAMF John, protective Sherlock, and several unfortunate criminals who mess with the wrong army doctor. No slash. Rated: K+ - English - Adventure/Family - Chapters: 2 - Words: 9,695 - Sherlock H., John W. - Complete

The Empty Home  by chai4anne Sherlock would always be haunted by memories of one particular case. The first body, its once-so-familiar features blurred by the passing of time and death, moved him more than he would ever have expected. But the worst was the skeleton he uncovered later, bits of hair and clothes still clinging to it—which had no effect on him whatever, until he looked up and saw John's face. Rated: T - English - Mystery/Suspense - Chapters: 28 - Words: 150,773 - Sherlock H., John W. - Complete

The frigid trench  by Nova-chan Sherlock is badly hurt. And alone. And incapacitated. Rated: T - English - Drama/Hurt/Comfort - Chapters: 15 - Words: 13,118 - Sherlock H., John W. - Complete

The Hand You're Dealt  by Lady Sam Mallory Sherlock, John and several others are trapped in a building when an explosion disrupts the crime scene they are working. COMPLETE. Rated: T - English - Hurt/Comfort/Angst - Chapters: 1 - Words: 12,092 - Sherlock H., John W. - Complete

The Secret Identity of John Watson  by scifigrl47  Taken out of context, John Watson leads a terrifying life.  You have to wonder what those poor women he dates thinks of it, especially if John decides to try keeping one away from Sherlock, and Sherlock decides that it'd be best if he could get rid of her Rated: T - English - Humor - Chapters: 3 - Words: 29,251 - John W., Sherlock H. - Complete

This Is What He Does For Fun  by nyssa123   Sherlock and John go to the pub after a long day and Sherlock realizes that the man sitting next to them is a serial killer. He then proceeds to tell everyone how he knows. Written for a prompt on the LJ kinkmeme.

Rated: K+ - English - Humor/Mystery - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,147 - John W., Sherlock H. - Complete

Totem  by IshkabibbleScribble  Rescuing Sherlock from the clutches of a violent terrorist cell forces John to rely on a long-unused, lethal skill. Rated: T - English - Friendship/Drama - Chapters: 2 - Words: 8,752 - Sherlock H., John W. - Complete

War Wound  by SoulfireInc  Set sometime after Sherlock's return, before John's wedding to Mary Mortsan. An old comrade of John's arrives at 221B Baker St, scared and desperate for the consulting detective's help. Perhaps, had Sherlock known the consequences he and John would suffer as a result of this surprise encounter, he never would have accepted the case ... [Written before season three aired.] Rated: K+ - English - Drama/Friendship - Chapters: 1 - Words: 21,319 - Sherlock H., John W., DI Lestrade, OC - Complete

From AO3 (alphabetical order) - NOTE: Just like the ff.net list, I did NOT include anything from the authors I recommended because these lists are just ginormous.

NOTE: I did *not* include warnings, pairings, etc in these summaries (too many tags to try and organize in the messy copy/pastes). Read the tags if you have any sensitivities/squicks/etc for all links!

Most anything by CaffieneKitty (over 100 shorts, so some I really love, others I can pass. Well worth checking out)

Anything by dragonnan if you want a huge wallop of angst. Also illustrations. Also writes in the MCU.

Anything by Jolie_Black (You thought stories written in script could only be bad? You thought WRONG. Very very canon-compliant goodness).

Anything by sgam76 (another multi-genre writer)

A Freak Adventure   by  dioscureantwins Words:    13,719    Chapters:    1/1    Teen And Up Audiences Sherlock Holmes Sally Donovan John Watson Mrs. Hudson Oh Christ, the Freak will be like a dog with two tails if she turns to him for assistance. Sally can feel her hands curling into fists ready to punch the condescending smirk off his face as she glares at the lift panel, willing the lift to go faster. But this is about Susy, Sally tells herself, not about him or Sally’s abhorrence of the atrocious git. She’s still convinced he gets off on it but he can wank himself into a stupor over Susy’s disappearance for all she cares as long as he finds her.

A Smelly Affair  by  dioscureantwins  Words:    13,756    Chapters:    1/1   General Audiences Sherlock Holmes John Watson Mrs Hudson Greg Lestrade Molly Hooper Anthea Mycroft Holmes Sherlock had published an interesting thesis on the splintering of various woods on his website. As well as an equally fascinating treatise on different types of ropes and knots and the best techniques for securing someone. Obviously, his captors had followed those instructions to the letter; thereby disproving John’s theory nobody took notice of Sherlock’s website. A victory, perhaps, but one Sherlock felt he could have done without. Trust his readership to turn the tables on the author.   Morons.

Constantly      by thesignsofserbia Words:    4,530    Chapters:    1/1    Mature Sherlock Holmes Mycroft Holmes Mycroft and Sherlock have a tenuous relationship at best, but with Sherlock taking down Moriarty's web, they might need each other more than they'd care to admit.

Croatia-Water-Blue      by hollyesque Words:    12,117    Chapters:    1/1 Not Rated Sherlock Holmes John Watson Mycroft Holmes “I…” John licks his lips, twitches his fingers as though he wants to reach out, “I’m here, Sherlock,” he says; “I know I haven’t been, but…but I am now.” Sherlock wrinkles his nose. Haven’t been—? “What on earth do you mean, you haven’t been here?” he asks, “You’ve been living here.”

Getting to Know You      by  Dimity Blue (Arnie) Words:    4,605    Chapters:    1/1   General Audiences Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley Sherlock Holmes John Watson Mycroft Holmes John picked up the kettle.  "Nothing from Lestrade?"Sherlock flipped himself over on the sofa and presented John with his back; John sometimes felt he was living with a cat.Clicking the switch on the kettle, John grinned to himself and, keeping his tone casual, said, "Maybe you could send him an owl."There was silence for a few seconds, then Sherlock asked, "Why would I send him an owl?"

Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus      by CaitlinFairchild Words:    4,572    Chapters:    1/1   Teen And Up Audiences Sherlock Holmes Mycroft Holmes John Watson Closing his eyes, Sherlock allows himself a brief swell of feeling--let’s not put a name on it, just call it a feeling--for his big brother. He knows that when Mycroft opens that steel door again, every man now inside will be a fresh corpse.The East Wind will take them all, Sherlock thinks fuzzily, before the curtain of sleep descends.

London Orbital   by merripestin Words:    13,642    Chapters:    1/1    General Audiences Greg Lestrade Sally Donovan Sherlock Holmes John Watson "I'm driving first," Sally said.  "Guv can take over after me. If we're all still mad enough to be at this after that,  John can drive third shift.  Then the freak, if we decide we can risk it.""John doesn't drive," said Sherlock."Then what's John along for?" Sally protested. Which Greg reckoned had to be just Sally trying to wind Sherlock up.  She knew better.  All night in a car with Sherlock was bad enough.  All night driving round and round the M25 looking for a killer, with Sherlock deprived of John Watson, sounded like a new circle of hell.   

Official Recruiter by Captain_Author Words:    49,469    Chapters:    21/21   General Audiences  Clint Barton Phil Coulson Sherlock Holmes John Watson Stephen Strange Crimes were so simple before aliens, gods, and supernatural abilities made themselves known. But Sherlock Holmes never enjoyed simple and these inhumans and mutants provided quite a challenge. SHIELD needed someone to find the superpowered. Funny how both their needs can be met.

Rigging screws, size 1 3/8 inch, galvanised  by  AJHall    Words:    15,250    Chapters:    6/6    Teen And Up Audiences Sherlock Holmes John Watson "How's a woman supposed to prove her husband's a murderer, dammit?" On the eve of a planned voyage to Brittany, Marjorie Jameson starts her day with no problems more pressing than forcing a boatyard to do an emergency repair to the family yacht.  A chance encounter at the Cowes hi-speed ferry terminal begins to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder, with her charming, untrustworthy husband Julian right at the centre and Marjorie as the next intended victim.But no-one's going to trust the word of an aging housewife whose complaints of abuse the police have previously dismissed as delusions.

Somewhere in the Dinaric Alps      by  drpepperdiva91 Words:    1,735    Chapters:    1/1    General Audiences Sherlock Holmes John Watson Sherlock is caught off-guard by a flashback to his time in Serbia, just before John arrives home from work. Sweet, but still semi-realistic, hurt/comfort.

The Case of the Missing Bus Ticket      by  Unsentimentalf Words:    10,543    Chapters:    1/1   General Audiences Dirk Gently Sherlock Holmes Richard MacDuff John Watson Mycroft Holmes When Dirk and Richard's new client inexplicably fails to stay alive long enough to pay them, their ailing finances mean that a certain amount of subterfuge is required to get them back to London. The sudden death of their client has, however, attracted the attention of another rather more famous (if less holistic) detective and the stage is set for a long distance bus ride of suspense…

The Green Blade   by  verityburns Words:    72,929    Chapters:    15/15   Teen And Up Audiences Sherlock Holmes John Watson Lestrade (Inspector) Mycroft Holmes Sally Donovan Anderson (Sherlock) Mrs. Hudson As a serial killer hits the headlines, the police are out of their depth and the next victim is out of time. With faith in Sherlock Holmes at an all time low, this is a case which will push loyalties to the limit... WARNING: COMMENTS CONTAIN SPOILERS!

The Holiday    by Scriblit Words:    18,962    Chapters:    9/9    Mature Sherlock Holmes John Watson Mycroft Holmes Mrs. Hudson Greg Lestrade Molly Hooper Mary Morstan ACD Canon Characters A month following an horrific, sadistic attack during a case, Sherlock is still physically incapacitated and emotionally damaged. A holiday is suggested, but even stuck out in the middle of nowhere, he and John happen upon a case that could make Sherlock begin to feel like his old self again - or could kill him.BBC Sherlock Reworking of ACD's Devil's Foot, with Illustrious Client in flashbacks. Scenes of violence and implied "off screen" sexual violence/sexual assault.

The Shallow End      by  hollyesque Words:    6,923    Chapters:    1/1   Teen And Up Audiences Sherlock Holmes John Watson Mycroft Holmes "I told you once that I don't have friends," he says to John's back, "Now you know why."

The Silence of the Bees  by  trappedinathoughtbubble Words:    14,169    Chapters:    7/?    Mature Sherlock Holmes John Watson Mary Morstan Mary Watson Greg Lestrade Mycroft Holmes A kidnapped teenage girl. A political conspiracy. Bees. And somehow in the midst of it all, John learns a few things Sherlock forgot to mention about those two years. Note: Not completed, but the author's around and one of the sweetest people ever if you want to give encouragement to take a look again at this story!

The Triple Bluff    by SarahKnight  Words:    28,331    Chapters:    8/8   Mature Sherlock Holmes Greg Lestrade Mycroft Holmes Sally Donovan Philip Anderson Sherlock annoys his landlord at Montague street, grows to hate Donovan and gets into trouble a lot on a kidnapping case involving a woman who bullied him as a child.The events leading up to A Study In Pink. A case fic that answers questions from the first episode such as why Sherlock had to leave Montague Street and find a new flatmate, why he and Lestrade both quit smoking but didn't know the other had, why there's so much animosity between Sherlock and Donovan, and why Sherlock hates traveling in a police car.

Welcome Home    by   thesignsofserbia Words:    3,435    Chapters:    1/1    Teen And Up Audiences Sherlock Holmes John Watson Mrs. Hudson Mycroft Holmes "All my nightmares escaped my head. Bar the door, please don’t let them in. You were never supposed to leave. Now my head's splitting at the seams."

And of course I have my own Sherlock/Doctor Strange crossover up on AO3 if that tickles your fancy, illustrations and all. :D

But if you haven’t delved deep into the fandom, this should tide you over for some time.

This list is by no means an exhaustive list of recs. I didn’t really include anything that concentrated on a romantic pairing, for instance. I left off anything explicit as well. But yeah, here’s a small amount of the overall goodness produced by the BBC Sherlock fandom over the last 10 years.

[johannadc]

How to Find Lestrade - Sherlock Season 2 Episode 3

In case you just want to watch the bits of Sherlock that have Lestrade in them… timings are taken from my Blu-ray player. Previous episodes can be found here:

https://johannadc.tumblr.com/tagged/lestrade-video-timings

Season 2 Episode 3, “The Reichenbach Fall”

Lots of Greg being a police officer in this one, and I think the most Donovan (played by Vinette Robinson) of any episode. I need a break after this one, because Martin Freeman’s grief always wrings me out (amazing acting), but I’m looking forward to the promo “Many Happy Returns”. 

2:30 - 3:11 At a press conference about Peter Ricoletti being captured, Greg mentions Sherlock’s achievements accomplished "with his customary diplomacy and tact" and gives him a deerstalker while Donovan and Anderson snicker in the background. 

7:06 - 7:12 The immortal phrase "Not our division" is Greg’s response to the first mention of Moriarty's crime spree. 

7:31 - 7:42, 8:05 - 8:11 In the car, Lestrade and Donovan hear of the other two break-ins.

9:03 - 9:12 They run into the Tower of London to find Moriarty. 

9:52 - 10:15 They watch as Moriarty is loaded into a police car, then Lestrade shows Sherlock and John the security footage with the “Get Sherlock” etching.

31:34 - 35:24 Lestrade and Donovan have brought Sherlock a kidnapping case, the children of the US ambassador missing from boarding school, and the group investigates the scene of the crime. 

40:25 - 44:27 More investigation at the Yard, where Sherlock is searching for the factory, then they find the children. Greg cautions Sherlock about overwhelming the little girl during questioning.

(I kept thinking Lestrade had a cigarette in his hand, but he’s fiddling with a pen.) 

44:51 - 45:06 Lestrade finds Donovan continuing to look at the evidence in a conference room and asks her, "Problem?"

45:40 - 46:57 Donovan shares her suspicions about how "unbelievable" Sherlock's deductions were with Lestrade, based on just a footprint. He responds, "You know what he's like. CSI Baker Street." but Donovan and Anderson push the point.

(I needed to save this image, it works for so much.) 

49:17 - 50:41 Greg comes to Baker Street to ask Sherlock to come in for questioning. Sherlock refuses, and John watches the detectives leave through the window.

51:43 - 52:41 Lestrade is called in front of the Chief Superintendent and told to arrest Sherlock. He phones John in warning.

53:16 - 55:23 The officers arrive at Baker Street and arrest Sherlock. Lestrade warns John off, but he gets arrested anyway, for punching the Chief Superintendent. Lestrade wearily complies with his boss' orders after Sherlock and John go on the run.

1:17:53 - 1:17:56  We briefly see Greg in his office as part of a montage with the various assassins hired to take out Sherlock's friends.