Did Russia Intentionally Leak The Season Finale Of ‘Sherlock’?

Vladimir Putin just can’t leave well enough alone. As if the Kremlin interfering in the US election wasn’t bad enough, the BBC is now investigating whether a Russian state broadcaster purposefully leaked the season four finale of Sherlock. Freedom is a lie. Nothing is safe.

A Russian-language version of the 90-minute Sherlock finale was leaked onto the web ahead of its official broadcast on Sunday night. A three-second continuity announcement attached to the episode showed that the leak had come from Channel One, which holds the rights to broadcast Sherlock in Russia.

According to The Telegraph, the BBC has since “initiated a full investigation” into the leak, which it believes may have been deliberately orchestrated.

“There appears to be no profit motive, no benefit to the broadcaster from doing this,” a cyber-security expert told the paper. “What remains is a political motive. The most obvious explanation is that this is punitive.”

“As Sherlock Holmes said himself, ‘When you’ve eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth’.”

-How did World War III start?
-On January 14th, one day before airing, Russia leaked 'The Final Problem'.

— SHERLOCK SPOILERS ! (@bencofhiddles) January 14, 2017

In October, the Russian foreign ministry accused the British broadcaster of violating Russia’s right to free speech, after the National Westminster Bank briefly attempted to close bank accounts connected to Russia’s English-language network RT. A Russian spokesperson said the measures taken by NatWest “reeked of” the BBC.

One can hardly imagine the kind of diplomatic chaos the Russians could cause if they got hold of episodes of Game of Thrones.