"A Scandal in Belgravia" is the first episode of the second series of the BBC crime drama series Sherlock, which follows the modern-day adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and was first broadcast by BBC One on 1 January 2012. It was written by co-creator Steven Moffat, and directed by Paul McGuigan. The episode was based on "A Scandal in Bohemia", a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The episode depicts Sherlock Holmes' (Benedict Cumberbatch) confrontation with Irene Adler (Lara Pulver), a dominatrix who has compromising photographs taken with a female member of the royal family. The photographs are stored inside her mobile phone, along with other valuable information which makes her a target of various political factions. Sherlock spends much of the episode keeping the device out of enemy hands while trying to deduce its password. Besides referring to the Doyle short story, the episode title names Belgravia, a district of London adjacent to the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
After its broadcast on BBC One, the episode was given consolidated figures of 10.663 million viewers in the United Kingdom. Critical reactions toward the episode were largely positive, with reviewers praising the writing, acting and direction. The episode sparked controversy for showing the character of Irene Adler in the nude (albeit with full nudity obscured by camera angles) pre-watershed.
Plot[]
The standoff between Sherlock and Moriarty is interrupted by a phone call to the latter. Following the call, Moriarty, having "received a better offer", lets Sherlock and John leave alive. In the following weeks, Sherlock becomes a minor celebrity after John blogs about his activities. While investigating a case where a man died in the countryside, Sherlock and John are brought before Sherlock's brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) in Buckingham Palace. He and a palace official reveal that Irene Adler (Lara Pulver), a dominatrix known professionally as "The Woman", took compromising photographs of her and a female member of the royal family. They want the pair to retrieve her mobile phone. Sherlock and John attempt to use deception to get into Adler's home. However Adler has been expecting them, and appears to them completely naked, leaving Sherlock unable to deduce anything about her, but through a ruse he finds that she keeps her phone in a safe. Several Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives led by Nielson (Todd Boyce) break into the house and demand that Sherlock open the safe, which he does after realising the combination is Adler's measurements. The safe is booby-trapped with a handgun that kills one of the assailants. After the rest are disarmed, Sherlock takes the phone which also contains other valuable information. However, Adler sedates him and steals the phone back before escaping. Sherlock later wakes up in his bed to find that Adler tampered with his phone, by adding a personalised ringtone of Adler sighing erotically that is sounded whenever she sends him a text.
Six months later, Sherlock learns (via text message) that Adler has sent him her phone (which requires a code that he does not know to unlock), and realises she will be found dead; her mutilated body is later found and identified. Some time later, John is contacted by Mycroft Holmes' assistant, who takes him to the abandoned Battersea Power Station. Expecting to see Mycroft, he is surprised to find Adler, who faked her death to shake off the people who are out to kill her for the phone. Sherlock, having followed him, is now also aware of Adler's survival. Sherlock returns home to find that Nielson's team are making another attempt to take the phone, by imprisoning his landlady Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs). Sherlock tricks and overpowers Nielson and throws him out a window. Later on, Adler reveals that she is still being hunted and asks Sherlock to decipher a code she stole from a Ministry of Defence (MOD) official. He effortlessly cracks the code, revealing it to be an airline seat allocation number. Adler secretly texts the flight information to her contact, Moriarty, who in turn texts Mycroft, revealing that he is now aware of the MOD ploy to fool a terrorist cell that was attempting to bomb a plane.
Adler's attempts to seduce Sherlock are interrupted by government officials who have come to collect him and deliver him to Heathrow Airport. Sherlock remembers Mycroft mentioning "Coventry" on the phone and reminisces about the allegations that the British government allowed the Coventry Blitz to happen, so as not to alert the Germans that their military codes had been cracked. His suspicions that a similar situation is occurring are confirmed by Mycroft; the US and UK governments have decided to fly a "dummy plane" full of corpses so as not to alert the terrorists while avoiding casualties. However, as Sherlock unwittingly helped Adler and therefore Moriarty crack the code, the scheme was foiled. Adler reveals a list of demands to Mycroft, including protection, in exchange for the release of the information on her phone. Adler further taunts Sherlock by revealing that he meant nothing to her.
However Sherlock realises she is lying, as he previously took her pulse that proved otherwise. He opens the phone with the password "SHER" (so that its screen reads "I am Sher-locked"). With her leverage gone, Adler pleads for protection, as she is unlikely to outrun her enemies, but Sherlock and Mycroft turn her down.
Some months later, Mycroft informs John that Adler has been beheaded by a terrorist cell in Karachi, Pakistan, but asks him to tell Sherlock instead that she has entered a witness protection program in America. Sherlock appears to accept this and asks John to give him Adler's phone. After John leaves, it is revealed in a flashback that Sherlock actually went to Pakistan to pose as her executioner, revealed himself to her, and rescued her.