A Study in Pink

A Study in Pink is the first episode of the television series Sherlock and first broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 25 July 2010. It introducesf three 90-minute episodes. The story was refilmed, this time directed by Paul McGuigan. The British Board of Film Classification has rated the pilot as a 12 certificate (not suitable for children under 12) for video and online exhibition, and it is included as an additional feature on the DVD released on 30 August 2010.

Plot
Dr John Watson (Martin Freeman), an ex-army doctor injured in the Afghanistan, meets Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) through a mutual friend. They become flatmates, sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street owned by landlady Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs).

There have been a strange series of deaths, supposed by Detective Inspector Lestrade (Rupert Graves) to be "serial suicides". Sherlock looks at the latest crime scene, which is of a woman wearing pink. Sherlock deduces that the woman is a serial adulterer with an unhappy marriage. Unlike other victims, she left a note, clawing "Rache" into the floor. Sherlock ignores the suggestion of the forensic expert, Anderson, that it is the German word for revenge and settles on "Rachel", deeming that the victim died before finishing the scrawl. Sherlock finds splashes of mud on the woman's leg, thrown up by the wheel of a suitcase, and deduces that she is from out of town. The police found no suitcase on the premises, but Sherlock searches for it, later finding it in a nearby skip.

Meanwhile, John receives a call from a telephone box and is taken to an empty warehouse. There, he meets a man who claims to be Sherlock's "arch-enemy". The man offers money in return for information about Sherlock's activities, but John refuses. When John returns to 221B, Sherlock asks him to send a text message to the phone of the fourth victim, hoping the murderer will see it and make a move. While waiting at a local restaurant, Sherlock notices a cab and gives chase, using his extensive knowledge of London's streets and alleys to outpace it on foot. However, when he and John catch up with the cab, they find that the passenger is a newly arrived American: a perfect alibi.

Suspecting that Sherlock had withheld evidence, the police execute a search warrant on his flat. Sherlock presumes that "Rachel" was the victim's e-mail address password and that the victim had planted her phone on the killer so that he could be traced by GPS. At the same time that John finds that the signal is coming from 221B, Mrs. Hudson tells Sherlock that there is a taxi waiting for him downstairs. Sherlock leaves the flat and enters the cab. The cabbie confesses, but proclaims that he doesn't kill; instead, he speaks to his victims and they kill themselves. He challenges Sherlock to solve his puzzle. They arrive at a school building, and the cabbie pulls out a gun and two bottles, each containing an identical pill. The cabbie says one of the pills is harmless, the other poison; he invites his victims to choose one, promising that he will swallow the other - and that he will simply shoot them if they refuse. Sherlock correctly deduces that the cabbie is dying from a brain aneurysm, but that is not the only reason he is killing people. The cabbie admits that a "fan" of Sherlock's, contacted him and offered to "sponsor" his work, paying money for each person the cabbie killed, to be left to the cabbie's children.

Sherlock realises that the cabbie is lying, and calls his bluff on the gun, which is actually a novelty cigarette lighter. He walks off, but the cabbie challenges him again to choose a pill and see if he can solve the puzzle.

Meanwhile, John has traced the GPS signal from the victim's phone and followed Sherlock. Through a window in the adjacent building, John sees Sherlock about to take one of the pills, and shoots the cabbie. Sherlock questions the dying cabbie, first about whether he got the pill game right, and then about the identity of his "fan", the cabbie's sponsor. Finally, the cabbie reveals a name: "Moriarty".

Outside, the police have surrounded the perimeter. Sherlock starts to make some deductions about the shooter before realising it must be John. Sherlock feigns shock to cover for John, telling Lestrade to ignore everything he has just said. Sherlock and John leave the scene but run into the man who had abducted John earlier, who turns out to be Sherlock's elder brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss). Mycroft instructs his secretary Anthea (Lisa McAllister) to increase their surveillance status, while Sherlock and John return to Baker Street.