Sherlock: The Empty Hearse has 'year's best' opening sequence

THERE won't be an opening scene on TV this year with more "chutzpah" than the one at the start of the New Year's Day episode of Sherlock, writes Chris Harvey in the Daily Telegraph.

At first, viewers who tuned in to The Empty Hearse on BBC One, thought they were watching an elaborate explanation of how the master detective had faked his own death, writes Harvey. But the "frenetic, thrilling" sequence turned out to be pure fantasy – the real reason for the sleuth's survival was something rather more prosaic.

It was, writes Harvey, "a great twist at the end of a rollercoaster ride".

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Nearly two years have passed since the first broadcast of the BBC drama's second season finale. The Reichenbach Fall, says The Independent. The interval has given fans plenty of time to speculate about the fate of Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock, who appeared to jump to his death from the roof of a London Hospital.

As the first episode of the third series went to air on BBC One yesterday it was clear that Sherlock was alive, but trapped in an interrogation room in Serbia. Freed, with a little help from his brother, Mycroft (Mark Gatiss), he was soon on his way back to Europe to be reunited with Dr Watson (Martin Freeman) and foil a terrorist plot.

The Guardian's Sam Wollaston agrees The Empty Hearse was "full of fizz, whizz and wit". Wollaston marvels at Holmes' resurrection and the new moustache sported by Watson. It is "astonishing", given the doctor's new facial hair, that Watson has acquired a new girlfriend played by Amanda Abbington (who is Freeman's wife in real life).

Wollaston says the spirit of Holmes' creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, hasn't been "abandoned or forgotten" by this modern, high-energy production. Writes Wollaston: "There may be hashtags, blogs and motorbikes, but the spirit remains in keeping. I think Sir Arthur would approve, enjoy it too. Hard not to really."

The Independent agrees that the episode was a treat for fans. In an plot full of twists, the paper says, the news that Sherlock has parents and didn't just spring into existence as a fully formed entity was "probably the biggest surprise of all".

It is also a relief, the Independent says, that Sherlock remains "his emotionally stunted, semi-sociopathic self".

Digital Spy says 9.2 million people watched The Empty Hearse, the show's highest ever rating.