The Empty Hearse is inspired by which Conan Doyle story?

“The Empty Hearse” is inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s story “The Adventure of the Empty House.”

The BBC episode, the first instalment of Sherlock’s third series, aired on 1 January 2014. It follows Sherlock Holmes’s return to London after he faked his death at the end of “The Reichenbach Fall,” just as Doyle’s story begins with Holmes returning after the Great Hiatus.

The connection goes beyond the title. Both versions involve Holmes concealing his survival, Mycroft’s involvement, and the criminal Colonel Sebastian Moran. In Doyle’s story, Moran attempts to kill Holmes with an air rifle; the television episode reworks that material into a modern conspiracy involving a terrorist network and the London Underground.

The plot is not a scene-by-scene adaptation. “The Empty Hearse” adds original modern elements, including John Watson’s engagement and several competing explanations for how Sherlock survived. That is why the Doyle story is best described as its principal inspiration rather than the episode’s complete source text.