The Final Problem Setlock Recap
Here we are, at the end of our recap journey. As with my other two recaps, I am operating under the assumption that everything filmed in the third block is for episode 3, except where we know for certain that Nick was directing.
Here’s your bare essentials summary of ep 3:
People fleeing on Baker Street
Two fishermen, armed men, and a helicopter at an island fort
A blonde girl with pigtails running circles around Sherlock
Molly in a house near the beach
Another helicopter and a wild Moriarty appears
John and a mystery fisherman surrender
Sherlock, John, and two fishermen on a boat
Night filming at Ty Gwyn, Lower Machen, and Pinewood
Rathbone Place
Casting call for a young Sherlock
A cave set being built in Swansea
The more detailed recap is below the cut. Filming is summarized by location (mostly chronologically). Arwel and Benjamin Caron’s posts from this block are listed, and several other things of note are mentioned that didn’t quite fit elsewhere.
Finally, as with my previous recaps, I haven’t gone through the process of marking things as unconfirmed. If you have questions about that (or anything else), let me know.
The Final Problem
Writers: Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss
Director: Benjamin Caron
Key name: Sherrinford
Confirmed castings:
Guard
Ben
Police officer
Velma
Vince
Girl on plane
Armed guard
Leonard
Police officer (another one)
Filming by Location
North Gower Street
June 12
Benjamin tweeted a picture of the crane used for the first part of filming at North Gower Street and said it was his first day filming. Therefore, the scene they filmed at the start of the day seems to be part of episode 3. For this scene, around 10 supporting actors were present on the street outside 221B. In one photograph, a newspaper can be seen which features the headline Police set to reopen ‘Peckham Poisoner’ case. A silver car, a taxi, and a grey car were parked along the side of the street. The scene was filmed from an overhead angle, using the crane.
Scene: There are people walking along Baker Street and sitting outside at Speedy’s, when something happens that causes them to all flee in fright.
St. Catherine’s Island
June 27, 28
The first day of filming mostly seemed to take place outside St. Catherine’s Fort and on the beach surrounding the island. Ralph Ineson (Vince) and Richard Crehan (Ben) were spotted in yellow fishing bibs, and there were also several supporting actors all dressed in dark peacoats and trousers, white shirts, black ties, and dark grey knit caps, carrying submachine guns. At one point, we also saw pictures of large panels, like those used for the walls of the 221B set, being carried up the stairs to the fort. (Unfortunately we only saw the back side of them, so we don’t know what was on the proper side.) We didn’t get much in the way of reports about what was filmed, but in pictures we can see the armed men pointing at something/someone down on the sand, as well as standing on a bridge outside the fort looking out at the surrounding island.
Most of what we saw on the second day was aerial filming around the fort. The supporting actors with the guns were back and wearing the same costumes. At times, they could be seen on the walkways around the fort, as well as on the roof, where a yellow and black/navy flag was flying on the flagpole. A helicopter was used to film aerial footage, sweeping all around the island, but also appears to be part of the plot as well, as it can be seen briefly in the SDCC trailer. There were also rumors that a fight scene was going to be filmed on the beach, but that never came to fruition.
SDCC Trailer: There are two short clips of the armed men running through the inside of the fort, as well as the aforementioned shot of the helicopter flying near the fort with green fields in the background.
Unconfirmed: Ogmore Castle
July 4
Reports put both Ben and Mark in costume at Ogmore Castle (though Mark wasn’t seen filming), along with a young girl with blonde hair in pigtails.
Scene: According to reports, the girl runs in circles around Sherlock while he watches her. Possibly, after she stops running, she says “Mary.”
Beach Road
July 5
Interior filming took place in a house on Beach Road in Southerndown. From the setup outside, they appeared to be using the kitchen/breakfast room. Loo, Ben, Martin, and Andrew were all around on this day of filming, though not necessarily in this location. Loo seems to be the most likely to have filmed here, as she was seen only in non-filming pictures at the second, nearby location. Quite possibly Ben and/or Martin were there as well, as they weren’t seen at the second location until later in the day. Molly’s costume included black (corduroy?) trousers and the multi-colored knitted sweater she wore when working cases with Sherlock in TEH.
Dunraven Bay
July 5
There were at least three separate things filmed on this beach in Southerndown. The first portion featured Andrew Scott and several supporting actors, as well as a helicopter. Andrew was costumed in a navy suit and shirt and a dark tie (maybe the skull tie?) with a tie pin. There were two men in dark suits and white shirts who appeared to be bodyguards or some kind of backup for Moriarty, and there was also a balding man in a dark suit and white shirt, as well as at least two armed men with him, dressed the same as at St. Catherine’s Island in Tenby.
Scene: Moriarty and his two guards exit and stand in front of the helicopter, where Moriarty has in his headphones and makes various over-the-top gestures. Then they walk away from the helicopter toward the balding man and the armed men that flank him and have a discussion.
SDCC Trailer: In the trailer we see the helicopter flying over the beach, coming in to land, as well as a brief shot of the back of Andrew’s head as he walks away from the helicopter.
The next portion of filming was reportedly of Ben getting on and off of the helicopter. Sherlock is dressed in the Belstaff, black suit, and white shirt.
The final bit of filming involved Martin and someone else costumed in yellow fishing bibs and a knit cap. John is dressed in the black multi-pocket jacket, jeans, and I believe a navy polo-style shirt.
Scene: Reportedly, the fisherman and John put their hands up as if surrendering.
Cory Chambers
July 13
They filmed on the first storey of Cory Chambers on Bute Street. A couple tweets mentioned Ben, but by the time setlockers arrived, there were only a few supporting actors in casual/business casual clothing leaving the set as the crew packed up.
Cardiff Bay Barrage
July 13
Ben, Martin, and our two fishermen, Richard Crehan (Ben) and Ralph Ineson (Vince) were on set for filming on a boat. The fishermen were seemingly dressed the same as at (or at least really similarly to) the St. Catherine’s Island shoot, in yellow fishing bibs. Sherlock was in a white shirt, black suit, and the Belstaff, while John was in a blue polo-style shirt, the black multi-pocket jacket, and jeans. Both of these costumes seem to match what they wore on the beach at Dunraven Bay in Southerndown. Real SFX was on hand to provide smoke/fog effects during filming.
The first scene filmed here was with just the two fishermen.
Scene: Ben the fishermen leans over the railing, coughing a lot. He takes a sip of something and goes back inside the cabin of the boat.
The second scene added John and Sherlock to the mix. Based on a slate seen on set, this is scene 25.
Scene: Sherlock stands on the roof of the cabin of the boat, with John crouched next to him. The fishermen stand on deck at the back of the boat. John stands, walks to the edge of the roof, and points his gun at the fishermen. Then Sherlock jumps off the roof, down onto the deck near the fishermen.
Ty Gwyn
July 15, night
(It’s slightly possible they also filmed here the night of the 14th, but we really don’t know for sure.)
Benjamin posted a picture of the front of the main house at Ty Gwyn, confirming they were here, but the location isn’t accessible to the public, which means we don’t even know for sure who was filming here.
Lower Machen
July 18, 19, 20, nights
Filming was at a private farm/house in Lower Machen for three consecutive night shoots. Pretty much the only thing we know is that Ben was there all three nights and that he wore the Belstaff on at least the night of the 19th.
Museum Avenue
August 4
Filming was at Cardiff University, along Museum Avenue in Cathays Park, where the building entrance had been redecorated with signs labeling it Rathbone Place. Martin and Ben were both present for filming. Sherlock is wearing the Belstaff, black suit, plum shirt, and navy scarf. John is in the Haversack, jeans, and a dark, collared shirt (can’t see much of it beyond that). We don’t know anything about what was filmed, as they had finished filming by the time we found out about this location.
In the Studio and Unknown Locations
June 27
Benjamin gave us the first slate for ep 3 filming, which is for scene 136. It looks to be indoors, judging by what little can be made of the reflection on the slate, so the studio is a good possibility here. Eos Counsell (violin coach) was also around this day, so the 221B set seems most likely.
June 29
Arwel posted a picture of Benjamin in Sherlock’s chair, so presumably they filmed at Pinewood.
June 30
Eos posted that she was “Sherlocking” this day, so it sounds like they were filming somewhere, possibly Pinewood.
July 1
Arwel tweeted a photo of DoP David Luther that was clearly taken in the studio, though we only see the back of whatever set they’re using.
July 2
Even though they didn’t do much weekend filming for this series, on this Saturday, Eos and David Arnold (music) both posted pictures from the 221B set.
July 6
Sue posted a video from the 221B sitting room that shows both Ben and Mark in costume. Sherlock is in all dark colors, and Mycroft is in a dark suit, white shirt, and (I think) red tie. Rupert was also in Cardiff this day, but it’s unclear if he actually filmed then or if he was there early for the next day’s filming (as Amanda was).
July 8
Benjamin posted a picture from the studio.
July 12
Thom Will (PR) tweeted that he was at Pinewood for Sherlock-related things on this day; however, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they were filming there at the time, though they could have been. Nic Pringle also posted this picture, which is not from Pinewood. It’s possible they filmed in two locations, or maybe Thom Will was just at Pinewood for meetings or something and didn’t actually see any filming.
July 14, night
Benjamin posted a Prisma picture from the 14th, but it’s pretty much unrecognizable. Filming signs were spotted very early the next day at Ty Gwyn, so it’s possible they were actually here the night of the 14th as well, but that’s just a guess really.
July 20
Amanda posted a picture on the 221B set—I’m going to talk about it more in the Other Things of Note section below.
July 21, night
There is a picture of the slate for scene 93, which I think is dated the 21st as best I can tell. It’s from a night shoot outside at Pinewood Studios. It’s strange, however, because if that slate was actually in front of a camera when that picture was taken, it looks like they were filming toward the trailers and their own trucks and such.
July 22, night
Benjamin posted pics that, like the previous night, were taken outside at Pinewood. This is also the day that Sue and Mark mentioned at SDCC that Martin was doing a scene by himself that reportedly made him uncomfortable.
July 26
Benjamin posted a behind the scenes picture that appears to probably be from inside the studio. We also got a picture of Mark in the makeup chair, and according to what Mark and Ben said at SDCC, the two of them and Martin were all doing a big scene this day with a lot of dialogue. (It’s not literally 26 pages of dialogue though, as was so often mentioned following SDCC. That’s not really possible for them to have done in one day, as 26 pages would probably account for something like a quarter of the episode. In the video of the panel, Ben actually says that it’s about 26 pages for the week--not just this one day--which could be true, but could also easily be an exaggeration.)
July 27
We got a picture of Rupert at Pinewood. Eos also posted a picture from the studio, so the 221B set seems the most likely location if she was involved. We also know that Amanda, Loo, and Una were all around this day as well.
July 29
Benjamin posted a picture of Arwel in Sherlock’s chair, with the sitting room of 221B looking rather messy. We also got a picture from Mark of Sherlock, John, and Mycroft standing in a field. Sherlock is in a black suit with a light blue shirt. Mycroft is wearing a navy suit with a white shirt, blue tie, tie bar, red pocket square, and gold watch chain with a black fob. John is in a light blue shirt, black jacket, and dark jeans.
August 1
Benjamin gave us a picture from Pinewood.
August 2
We got pics from outside the studio of the taco truck that Ben hired for everyone for lunch. Loo was on set this day, as was Mark (and presumably Ben). We got some pics of Loo having fun in a wig (which probably aren’t relevant but who honestly knows?). She also shared a picture from her trailer where you can see Molly’s cherry cardigan, so possibly that was from her costume for the day. Mycroft’s costume included a white shirt, a tie with a very small dot/check pattern on it, and a thin gold tie bar with a black stone in the center. (It’s a black and white picture but you can see this same tie bar in the first clip of Mycroft in his office in the SDCC trailer.)
August 3
Dominique Arthur posted a pic of Ben and a child outside Pinewood. Sherlock is wearing a white shirt and dark trousers, while the kid has on a baseball cap, a jersey with the number 95 on it, and jeans. (It isn’t clear if the kid is in costume there or even if he’s an actor—he could be the child of someone on set for all we know—but an actor in costume seems most likely.)
August 4
Benjamin posted a pic from the front of the studio.
August 5
On the final day of filming, we got plenty of pictures from Pinewood, including some from the Baker Street set. Ben was photographed in costume--a black suit with a white shirt and the Belstaff. Martin was also spotted at Pinewood but not in costume, so it’s unclear if he was actually filming or not.
Arwel’s Updates
Arwel didn’t give us much for the last episode, but again, just in case any of it is important, here’s a list of all the things he tweeted during the second break and the third block. If there are definite connections to things from filming, I’ve listed that in brackets, and once again I’m not linking the pics but you can find them all tagged #Arwel Wyn Jones if you want to find them.
Break 2
Arwel sitting in Sherlock’s chair (many people pointed out that there seems to possibly be a child’s violin case behind him in the photograph)
Block 3
June 27
The 221B front door and one of the sitting room walls
June 29
Benjamin in Sherlock’s chair
July 1
DoP David Luther in the studio
A video of the 221B front door and entryway
July 5
A stuffed mouse on a skateboard [possibly from the house on Beach Road, ep 3]
July 6
‘Sherlock’ mowed into the grass
July 7
No access for pedestrians
July 15
His shoes/legs on a walkway through grass [possibly at Ty Gwyn, ep 3]
July 22
An empty glass jar
A stencil for the yellow smiley
July 25
The prop store
July 27
The Zoffany logo
August 5
Arwel, Ben, and Martin on set [Museum Avenue, ep 3]
Benjamin’s Updates
Benjamin used instagram and twitter a bit more than the other directors did, so I thought it might be worth mentioning all of the things he shared as well. I’ll put locations for the photos in brackets, if known, and as with Arwel’s updates, I’m not going to link all of them but you can find them all under my #Benjamin Caron tag (mixed in with other Benjamin-related things—sorry, I don’t have a separate one just for his posts).
June 12
Crane used for filming on North Gower Street [NGS, obviously]
June 27
Slate 1 for ep 3
June 28
Helicopter [used for filming at St. Catherine’s Island, Tenby]
“Mind Head” [presumably at St. Catherine’s Fort, Tenby]
July 2
A red light
July 5
Another helicopter [Dunraven Bay]
A beer and his notes
The beach [Dunraven Bay]
July 8
A light and some equipment in the studio [presumably Pinewood]
July 12
Tripping hazard sign
Powerline junction (not sure if this is setlock-related though, as it wasn’t tagged)
July 13
A toilet (Prisma filter)
Benjamin and Andrew Scott (Primsa filter) [presumably a backpost from Dunraven Bay]
Tunnara II [Cardiff Bay Barrage]
July 14
Ben and Martin on the boat (Primsa filter) [backpost from Cardiff Bay Barrage]
??? a blue spot with an orange/yellow line (Prisma filter)
A selfie
July 15
The front of the main house at Ty Gwyn [Ty Gwyn, obviously]
July 18
Blurry hills [Lower Machen]
July 19
Tea and a cupcake
July 20
Blurry house [Lower Machen]
July 21
Two-headed goat
July 22
Jurassic Park jeep [Pinewood]
Lighting trucks and a crane [Pinewood]
Camera truck [presumably Pinewood]
July 26
Some kind of… equipment
July 28
Arwel in Sherlock’s chair in a messy 221B
August 1
Stage 1 sign [Pinewood]
August 2
Loo in a wig
August 4
The main entrance to the studio [Pinewood]
Slate 500 for ep 3, which has a drawing of Sherlock firing a gun, with John and Mycroft in the background
August 5
DoP David Luther [Pinewood]
Safety briefing [Pinewood]
The Mr Blue Skull replacement [Pinewood]
The bison skull [Pinewood]
Slate 517 for ep 3, scene 77 [presumably Pinewood]
Benjamin, Martin, and Ben [backpost from Cardiff University, Museum Avenue]
Other Things of Note
Steven mentioned at Sherlocked that while most episodes are 60 minutes of plot and 30 minutes of drama, this episode in particular is a lot of plot.
Back on June 3, Sarah Arthur (costumes) tweeted that she was beginning her prep for ep 3. Later that same day, she posted a picture of a vintage dress. The picture isn’t tagged definitively as being for Sherlock, but it could mean that she was looking for vintage clothing for the episode.
Sarah also later tweeted about a “brilliantly funny” fitting for Mark and tagged it for ep 3. Many people have speculated that this could be related to the picture Arwel tweeted as a Brexit joke just a few days later. It certainly doesn’t appear that it’s actually Una in Arwel’s picture and could in fact be Mark dressed as Mrs Hudson, but the question then becomes is that the funny fitting Sarah was talking about, and if so, was it just for the purposes of this joke or is there a show-related reason Mark (or someone else for that matter) would be dressed as Mrs Hudson? Or was the funny fitting tweet entirely unrelated to this?
On July 2, we got a report that a cave set was being built for the show, and later that week, we got a glimpse of the set being built at Bay Studios in Swansea, as well as a report that the cast would be filming there sometime the following week (July 11-15). We know that they filmed at the Cardiff Bay Barrage and Cory Chambers on the 13th and that they did night shoots on the 14th and 15th, so it seems as if they must have been in Swansea on the 11th and/or 12th. The 12th is when we got the tripping hazard sign posted by Benjamin, which many people speculated was related to the cave filming, and that seems a good possibility. There was also an instagram picture posted of a firetruck at Bay Studios that seems likely to be a backpost from these days. The caption on the picture says that it was for fire safety, so presumably they must have been using fire somewhere during the course of their filming on the cave set.
It’s also possible that they could have snuck off to the beach in Swansea while they were there. Gareth Skelding tweeted that he was on a recce at Rhossili Bay in Swansea on July 4. The fact that this would have only been a week before filming makes me skeptical that it’s actually related—it certainly could have been a recce for something that isn’t Sherlock—but it’s at least worth a mention. Similarly, he also posted about recces in Portmeirion on June 9 and at Cardiff Castle on June 3. The timing would make them part of ep 3 if they are Sherlock-related, but there’s definitely a good chance they’re for something else. For one, we didn’t see them film at either location, though it’s possible they could have done it without us finding out. But these recces were also a full month after the one other recce we know for sure was for ep 3, which was the one at Dunraven Bay on May 5. So while it’s possible any of these three were indeed for ep 3, I think they’re most likely not for Sherlock at all. As I said before though, it’s at least worth a mention, just in case.
There were several interesting casting tidbits of note during block 3. First, a casting call went out July 4 looking for three sets of blonde, twin girls, aged 1 month, 18 months, and 2-3 years old. It didn’t specify at all that this was for Sherlock or even provide a date or location they’d be needed for filming, so I don’t know that this is actually related, but it could be. In particular, there was a lot of speculation that this could relate to the young girl reportedly seen at Ogmore Castle, but others also thought it could be Baby Watson.
We got another casting call for this block that we know for sure is related. On June 21, we found a notice looking for boys to play a 6-year-old version of Sherlock in a couple of flashback scenes. The notice also specifically indicated that it was a non-speaking role. Benjamin is listed as the director, so we know for sure it’s for ep 3 (though that was likely anyway as filming would be during block 3, but it’s good to have the confirmation). We don’t know for sure when these scenes would have been filmed, but it’s possible it was August 3, when Dominique Arthur posted a picture of Ben and a child outside of Pinewood.
On a possibly related note, there was the announcement on July 7 that 10-year-old Alfie Stoker had been cast in a “high profile BBC project.” Nothing at all in the announcement says Sherlock, and there are plenty of other high-profile projects at the Beeb, so there is every chance that this is not at all related to the show. However, speculation still ran rampant that Alfie looks like he could potentially play a young Mycroft. If it is for Sherlock, he’s certainly older than the child they wanted to play young Sherlock, at least making that unlikely to be his role, but a flashback to a Sherlock at that age could also require an older child to play Mycroft, which means it’s at least possible this speculation could pan out. (Mycroft would actually be 13 when Sherlock is 6, so Idk for sure that Alfie looks quite old enough for that, but it’s possible.)
Finally, there was the revelation that Honor Kneafsey plays “girl on plane” in this episode, which logically seems to indicate that the episode must also include a plane somewhere along the way, even though we never saw one during filming. There was a tweet from a member of the design crew way back in April with pictures from the wing of a plane, so maybe that’s related. She also tweeted a photo that included a list mentioning an in-flight magazine. Both of those tweets could be for another episode, especially as they were from so early on, but it could also have been really early prep work for ep 3. (Several people also caught that Honor had previously appeared as one of the children whose grandfather had died in ASIB, but I think it’s likely that she was just recast in a new role and not that this is supposed to be her same character from that ep.)
Last but not least, let’s wrap up by talking about Amanda. There were only three times during block 3 that she told us she was filming. The first time was on July 7, which turned out to actually be for ep 2, so we can ignore that one for the purposes of this recap--it’s discussed in the ep 2 recap instead.
The next was July 20, when she posted a picture of her hair being done, captioned “Last day… Series 4.” Later in the day, she posted a selfie from the sitting room of 221B where she’s wearing the same costume we saw her in for all of ep 2. There seem to be a few possibilities here. First, if you want to get technical about it, even though she posted the pictures on the 20th, she doesn’t actually say that that day is her last day; she just says that the pictures are of her last day—in theory, they could be backposts from the ep 2 filming on July 7. But that begs the question, why post them two weeks later? I tend to try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they talk about when they’re filming, so this isn’t my fave theory but is at least a possibility worth considering. Alternatively, if she did really film on the 20th, then where does that leave us, considering the costume she’s wearing? It could have been pickups for ep 2, things they didn’t manage to finish on the 7th. Or it could actually be for ep 3 and is a flashback to something during the plot of ep 2 or possibly ep 3 starts very soon after the events of the second episode. It’s hard to say, but the fact that her costume is so clearly the same one from ep 2 is definitely interesting. I wouldn’t think it’s just a case of her happening to wear something similar in a later episode—it clearly either has to be from the same episode or connected to it in some way.
Despite Amanda saying that the 20th was her last day, however, Sue told us at SDCC that she still had one more day of filming to go, and we did get another appearance from Amanda on July 27. Later that day, she told us that she had wrapped on the series and gave us a picture of Mary’s ring, pointing out specifically that it’s a ring from her past, not her wedding ring. All of this leads to more questions. Why did Amanda post about her last day on the 20th if it wasn’t really? Did they run behind and not get everything done then, and she had to come back to finish the rest a week later? Or was she trying to hide that she was going to be filming this day by posting that the 20th was her last, until Sue spilled the beans at SDCC? Amanda mentioned in an interview during SDCC that they ran out of time on the 20th, so it ended up not being her last day after all, with her having to come back for one more day on the 27th. (Thanks to @undyingdevotion for pointing me in the direction of that interview; I hadn’t seen that one before.) Was what she filmed that day actually for ep 3? Or was it possibly still more for ep 2? We don’t know what her costume was that day, so we don’t know if it was the same as on the 20th or not (presuming that the pics from the 20th weren’t a backpost). And in the bigger picture, did Amanda really film so little for ep 3? As they were in the studio so much, she certainly could have been filming more than we know about, trying to mention it as little as possible so that we assume she’s in less of the episode than she actually is, to help keep it a surprise. I don’t know. It’s all interesting though. And why specifically make the point about Mary’s ring? Questions and more questions...
Well, that’s all for these episode recaps. Hope you’ve found them helpful! I will certainly come back and add things to this as we find other tidbits of info. (I’ve already added things to both the ep 1 and 2 recaps at this point.) As ever, thanks for reading, and if you have questions or comments, drop me an ask. xx