Steven Moffat has explained Moriarty’s surprising appearance at the end of Sherlock Series 3.

Speaking to BangShowbiz, he said: ”That [scene] was in the cutting room. It was Mark Gatiss’ idea to get one more little blip of him, and we shot the live action shot which we hadn’t done for the actual show and put that in after the credits.

”I was as surprised as anyone when he turned up. He was definitely dead. You can’t fake shooting yourself in the face. The back of his head came off.

He jested: ”I don’t know what is going on. I can’t wait for four or five years until we make the next episode.”