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{{use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox television episode
| series = [[Sherlock (TV series)|Sherlock]]
| image = =
| caption =
| series_no = 4
| episode = 1
| writer = [[Mark Gatiss]]
| based_on = {{Based on|"[[The Adventure of the Six Napoleons]]"|[[Arthur Conan Doyle]]}}
| director = [[Rachel Talalay]]
| producermusic = {{Plainlist|*[[SueDavid VertueArnold]]
| music = {{Plainlist|*[[David Arnold]]
*[[Michael Price (composer)|Michael Price]]}}
| editor = Will Oswald
| photographer = Stuart Biddlecombe<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3538760/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_wr#writers |title=The Six Thatchers: full cast and crew |work=[[IMDb]] |date= 1 January 2017 |accessdate=1 January 2017}}</ref>
| airdate = {{Start date|2017|01|01|df=y}}
| length = 88 minutes
| guests = *[[Lindsay Duncan]] as [[Elizabeth Smallwood|Lady Smallwood]]
*[[Charles Edwards (actor)|Charles Edwards]] as David Welsborough
*[[Sian Brooke]] as Elizabeth
*[[Sacha Dhawan]] as Ajay
*[[Marcia Warren]] as Vivian Norbury
| prev = [[The Abominable Bride]]
| next = [[The Lying Detective]]
| episode_list = List of Sherlock episodes
 
}}
"'''The Six Thatchers'''" is the first episode of the fourth series of the British television programme ''[[Sherlock (TV series)|Sherlock]]'', and the eleventh episode overall. The episode was first broadcast on [[BBC One]], [[BBC First]], [[PBS]] and [[Channel One Russia|Channel One]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Sherlock: what do we know about the fourth series|url=https://meduza.io/feature/2017/01/01/sherlok-chto-my-znaem-o-chetvertom-sezone|publisher=[[Meduza]]|accessdate=9 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The fourth series of Sherlock on the Channel One|url=https://www.1tv.ru/news/2017/01/01/317228-pervyy_kanal_nachinaet_pokaz_novogo_sezona_britanskogo_seriala_sherlok|publisher=[[Channel One Russia]]|accessdate=9 January 2017}}</ref> on 1 January 2017.
 
==Plot==
[[List of Sherlock characters#Mycroft Holmes|Mycroft]] presents doctored footage of [[List of Sherlock characters#Charles Augustus Magnussen|Charles Augustus Magnussen]]'s death ("[[His Last Vow]]") being shot, so that it appearswill appear to the public as though Magnussen was shot accidentally by a sniper. [[List of Sherlock characters#Sherlock Holmes|Sherlock]] and a committee chaired by Lady Smallwood are attending. Sherlock is freed, and resolves to wait for [[List of Sherlock characters#Jim Moriarty|Moriarty]]'s [[The Reichenbach Fall|posthumous]] revenge.
 
[[List of Sherlock characters#Mary Morstan|Mary Watson]] gives birth to a daughter, who is named Rosamund Mary. [[List of Sherlock characters#Dr. John Watson|John]] befriends a woman he met on a bus. It is hintedlater suggested tothey behave an affair, but John texts the woman to say that it's over.
 
Mycroft and [[Scotland Yard]] detectives including [[List of Sherlock characters#Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade|Greg Lestrade]] bring Sherlock various cases, hoping they will reveal Moriarty's scheme. One case involves the son of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] cabinet minister Charlie Welsborough. The son is found dead in a car crash outside their home, despite having been on a [[gap year]] in [[Tibet]]. Sherlock quickly solves the case, and reveals that the son was hiding in the car, planning to surprise his father, but died from a seizure. A week later, a drunk driver crashed into the car.
[[List of Sherlock characters#Mary Morstan|Mary Watson]] gives birth to a daughter, who is named Rosamund Mary. [[List of Sherlock characters#Dr. John Watson|John]] befriends a woman he met on a bus. It is hinted to be an affair, but John texts the woman to say that it's over.
 
Mycroft and [[Scotland Yard]] detectives including [[List of Sherlock characters#Detectivenotes Inspectorthat Grega Lestrade|Greg Lestrade]] bring Sherlock various cases, hoping it will reveal Moriarty's scheme. One case involves the sonbust of the [[ConservativeMargaret Party (UK)|ConservativeThatcher]] cabinet minister Charlieat Welsborough.'s The son is found dead in a car crash, despite having been on a [[gap year]] in [[Tibet]]. Sherlock quickly solves the case, and reveals that the sonhome was hiding in the car, planning to surprise his father, but diedmissing from aits seizure.place and Sherlock notes a missing bust of [[Margaret Thatcher]] at the victim's home, findingfinds that it washad been stolen and smashed upon the front porch. In Lestradethe revealsfollowing toweeks, Sherlock that fourfive other busts made in the series arewere also smashed. In Huntingone instance, someone was killed. Staking out the location of the last one, Sherlock encounters a culprit. They fight, but the culprit escapes. In the centercentre of the last bust is a memory stick labelled A.G.R.A., like [[His Last Vow|the one]] Mary had given to John.
 
Questioned by Sherlock, Mary relates her past as a freelance agent on a team called 'A.G.R.A.AGRA'. Each had a memory stick containing their confidential material, lest anyone be betrayed by another. Six years prior, a rescue mission of hostages held at the British embassy in [[Tbilisi]] went wrong, when athe ''coupcaptors d'état''were (settipped off byand akilled codeeveryone wordon "Ammo")the killed everyoneteam except Ajay and Mary. Sherlock tries to stop Mary from going after Ajay, but Mary drugs him and escapes.
 
Mary travels across the world following a random path, but,that "not even Sherlock Holmes could follow." But having planted a tracking device in the memory stick, Sherlock and John followintercept her toin [[Morocco]]. Ajay arrives, having followed Sherlock, and attempts to kill all three. AjayHe reveals that, while being tortured and held in Tbilisi, hehis heardcaptors kept taunting him with the wordsword "Ammo" and told him he'd been betrayed by "the English woman", whichwhom Ajayhe assumed to be Mary. He escaped, andhaving hidhidden thehis memory stick in a half-made bust, then sought revenge on Mary, believing that she had betrayed them. TheyThe fight, but Ajaystandoff is shotbroken up by local police, who shoot Ajay.
 
Sherlock deduces that 'Ammo' should be ''Amo'', the Latin word for "I love", suggestingwhich suggests Lady Smallwood, whose codenamecode name is Love. Questioned by Mycroft, Smallwood claims to be innocent. Sherlock meets Smallwood's secretaryassistant Vivian Norbury in the [[London Aquarium]]. Vivian confesses that she tipped the terrorists off in Georgia, using the code "Amo", thus eliminating the hostages and the 'A.G.R.A.'AGRA team. Her motive was killing the British ambassador, who had found out that Vivianshe had sold national secrets. John, Mycroft and the police arrive, and Vivian shoots at Sherlock, but Mary jumps in the way, taking the bullet. Mary professes her love and gratitude forto John and Sherlock, and dies. John, grief-stricken, blames Sherlock, who had vowed to protect Mary.
 
In his home, Mycroft finds a [[sticky note]] reading "13th", and goesplaces a call to "Sherrinford". Sherlock visits John's [[Psychotherapy|therapist]] but is unable to discussopen hisup issue.to her. [[List of Sherlock characters#Mrs. Hudson|Mrs. Hudson]] gives Sherlock a DVD, which iscontains a posthumous message from Mary. In the video, Mary asks Sherlock to 'Save John Watson'. Sherlock attempts to visit John, but Molly informsgives Sherlockhim a note from John and tells him that John wisheswould rather forhave anyone's help but Sherlock's.
 
==Production==
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==References to Arthur Conan Doyle==
{{refimprovemore citations needed section|date=June 2023}}
Joanna Robinson of ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', notes that Holmes' request to be reminded of Norbury as an example of his over-confidence is a reference to "[[The Adventure of the Yellow Face]]". The other reference to Doyle's "Adventure of The Yellow Face" is when John Watson says to Mary: "I might not be a very good man, but I am better than you give me credit for." This sentence was spoken by Mr Grant Munro to his wife Effie (who, like Mary Watson in "Sherlock", was also hiding a secret) in "The Adventure of The Yellow Face."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/01/sherlock-season-4-episode-1-six-thatchers-recap-easter-eggs-references |title=Sherlock: 11 Easter Eggs, Callbacks, and References You Might Have Missed in "The Six Thatchers" |publisher=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |author=Joanna Robinson |date=January 2, 2017 |access-date=January 9, 2017}}</ref>
 
"The Six Thatchers" is based loosely on "[[The Adventure of the Six Napoleons]]". At one point, Sherlock believes that the suspect is hunting for the black pearl, which he had been asked to look into earlier and dismissed as uninteresting, but it is soon revealed that the suspect is actually hunting for a [[flash drive|memory stick]] containing information about Mary Watson's past.
 
Toby, the dog Sherlock borrows to aid in his search for clues, is referenced in ''[[The Sign of the Four]]'', where a trained scent hound helps track Holmes and Watson to a boat landing. The "A.G.R.A" team mentioned in this episode alludes to the [[Agra Fort]]ress in ''The Sign of the Four'' which the character Johnathan Small had to flee during the [[1857 rebellion]].
The "A.G.R.A" team mentioned in this episode alludes to the Agra Fortress in ''The Sign of the Four'' which the character Johnathan Small had to flee during the [[1857 rebellion]].
 
==Broadcast and reception==
The episode premiered in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Latin America , and sokesome parts of Russia simultaneously. In the UK, it was premiered at 8:30 pm GMT on [[BBC One]]. In the US, it premiered at 9:00 pm [[Eastern Time|ET]]/[[Pacific Time|PT]] on [[PBS]]. In Australia, it premiered on subscription streaming service [[Stan (company)|Stan]] at 10:00 pm AEDT on 2 January. In Latin America, it premiered at 1:00 am GMT on [[BBC Entertainment]]. In European part of Russia, it aired on 23:31 MSK ON [[Channel One Russia]], while airing in other parts of Russia and in some [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] states on the same channel on January 3 at 20:55 MSK .
 
''The Six Thatchers'' received mixed reviews. ''[[The Guardian]]'' was positive, saying "Cumberbatch channels Bond in the most explosive outing yet".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/01/sherlock-benedict-cumberbatch-review-james-bond-margaret-thatcher-mark-gatiss-steven-moffat-detective |title=Sherlock review – Cumberbatch channels Bond in the most explosive outing yet |first=Mark |last=Lawson |date=1 January 2017 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |accessdate=4 January 2017}}</ref> ''[[IGN]]'' gave a mixed review a 5.5/10 calling it "Mediocre" and "Sherlock returns with a confused and confusing case involving Margaret Thatcher's head."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/01/02/sherlock-the-six-thatchers-review |title=Sherlock: "The Six Thatchers" Review |first=Daniel |last=Krupa |date=1 January 2017 |work=[[IGN]] |accessdate=4 January 2017}}</ref> [[Digital Spy]] called it "satisfying enough" and saying "'The Six Thatchers' is an engaging outing with one fatal flaw. Everything works... apart from the one thing that really needs to."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/sherlock/review/a816706/sherlock-series-4-premiere-episode-1-review-spoilers/ |title=Sherlock review: Engaging but with one fatal flaw |first=Morgan |last=Jeffery |date=1 January 2017 |work=[[Digital Spy]] |accessdate=4 January 2017}}</ref> ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' gave a good review with a rating of 4/5 stars, calling it "a dizzying triumph of complex plotting."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/01/01/sherlock-six-thatchers-worth-hype-review/ |title=Sherlock: Cumberbatch's return in The Six Thatchers was worth all the hype - review |first=Ben |last=Lawrence |date=1 January 2017 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |accessdate=4 January 2017}}</ref> After Ralph Jones, in an opinion piece in ''The Guardian'', criticised the episode for making Sherlock into a James Bond-style action hero, Mark Gatiss wrote in personally and responded in the form of verse.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jan/04/is-sherlock-worse-for-too-much-action-mark-gatiss-sends-his-verse-reaction |title=Is Sherlock worse for too much action? Gatiss sends his verse reaction |first=Mark |last=Brown |date=4 January 2017 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref>