Sherlock
The Sign of Three
TV Flash files “The Sign of Three” as hour 8 of 12 in the TV Flash guide — Sherlock (2010–2017) on BBC/PBS, season 3, episode 2, aired 2014-01-05, 90 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E02: listed hour 8 of 12 in the Sherlock guide, hour 2 of 3 in season 3. It aired 2014-01-05 (90 min). The listed hour before it is “The Empty Hearse” (S03E01). Next is “His Last Vow” (S03E03).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Sherlock faces his biggest challenge of all - delivering a best man's speech on John's wedding day.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Sign of Three sit in the Sherlock guide?
S03E02 is listed hour 8 of 12 — hour 2 of 3 in season 3, season 3 episode 2.
When did Sherlock S03E02 air?
The Sign of Three aired 2014-01-05 and is listed at 90 minutes.
Is it set in Victorian London?
No. Contemporary update: smartphones, blogs, text overlays. Doyle's characters and cases, Gatiss/Moffat's London now.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Holmes in texting-era London: Cumberbatch and Freeman as a global double act, mind palaces, on-screen texts, Moriarty as fandom sport. Gatiss and Moffat's movie-length BBC/PBS events made hiatuses feel like hostage situations. Modern Doyle for the GIF age — appointment mystery with waits that became part of the phenomenon.
The coat first. Benedict Cumberbatch's consulting detective in texting-era London, silhouette as a brand, Victorian arrogance cut against smartphone flair. Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's BBC One series — *Masterpiece* in the U.S. — premiered July 25, 2010 as a contemporary Doyle update. Martin Freeman's John Watson blogs beside him. Episodes run like movies. Andrew Scott's Moriarty, Una Stubbs's Hudson, Rupert Graves's Lestrade, mind-palace overlays: detective television dressed as a global double act. **This…
Filed against
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes made texting-era London a mind palace — Gatiss and Moffat’s movie-length BBC/PBS events, Freeman as the global double act, on-screen texts, Moriarty as fandom sport, hiatuses like hostage situations.…
- Martin Freeman as John Watson
Martin Freeman’s Lester Nygaard is Fargo’s first-season ordinary man stepping into a snowdrift of crime — politeness as a trap, Midwestern manners until they are not. Noah Hawley’s FX anthology inherited the Coens’ moral geometry; Freeman…
- Una Stubbs as Mrs. Hudson
Una Stubbs’s Mrs. Hudson kept Sherlock’s Baker Street human while Cumberbatch and Freeman turned texting-era London into a global double act. Mind palaces, on-screen texts, Moriarty as fandom sport, Gatiss and Moffat’s movie-length…
- Rupert Graves as Greg Lestrade
Rupert Graves's Greg Lestrade kept Sherlock's texting-era London honest — Cumberbatch and Freeman as a global double act, mind palaces, on-screen texts, Moriarty as fandom sport. Gatiss and Moffat's movie-length BBC/PBS events. TV Flash…
- Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty
Andrew Scott’s “hot priest” on Fleabag detonated fourth-wall confession into global discourse — faith, desire, and a cigarette that still starts fights. Short-run perfection needed his ache. TV Flash still looks at the lens when he walks…
- Amanda Abbington as Mary Watson
Amanda Abbington’s Mary Watson walked Sherlock’s texting-era London as the partner the GIF-age double act could not treat as furniture. Cumberbatch and Freeman, mind palaces, movie-length BBC events, hiatuses like hostage situations. TV…