This DVD extra is the original one-hour version which was filmed in order to convince the BBC to finance a six episode series. The BBC liked it very much but decided that they wanted three 90-minute episodes instead. The team thought about tacking on an extra thirty minutes to what they had already filmed but very quickly decided it would be easier to start from scratch. I’m so thrilled that they didn’t just lock the pilot away but allowed it go onto the DVD. It’s truly fascinating to see the differences between the two versions, the changes in filming quality, and the way that so much of the original version was transferred to the final episode and drastically improved along the way.

(When referring to the final transmitted version, I’ll call it episode 1.)

The lack of the dream sequence at the very beginning of the episode is jarring, because there’s no immediate explanation of who John is, why we’re watching him sit up in bed or why he’s looking distressed. However, there’s a longer and much more obvious moment when John takes his laptop out of the drawer and looks at the gun underneath. It hadn’t even dawned on me until I saw this pilot that John may have ‘liberated’ the pistol because he might be thinking of suicide.

The opening credits are less dramatic, both visually and music-wise, even though it’s the same tune.

Mike Stamford, although played by the same actor, has a much stronger accent here than in episode 1.

Molly says the line that I felt was missing from episode 1. Here she actually states that the man donated his body to the hospital, and thereby makes it a little more acceptable for Sherlock to be beating the living (or dead) daylights out of the corpse.

The filming of the external shots outside 221B must have been done several weeks, if not months, after the rest of the episode, because Sherlock’s hair is significantly (and very noticeably) longer – almost to its episode 1 length – than it is in the rest of the pilot.

Mrs Hudson is a little more ‘bouncy’ here. I much prefer her lower-key personality in episode 1.

The layout of the flat makes a little more sense here because of the half-landing beside the second flight of stairs – at least now the door at the rear of the kitchen has somewhere to go to. But I’m glad they got rid of the split-level floor and the arch over the fireplace; in fact the episode 1 flat is generally so much better.

The wall to the immediate right of the lounge door (as you walk in) always bothered me in the three broadcast episodes because I can’t understand what possessed anyone to put an opaque piece of glass in there. Here, as a solid wall of shelves, it makes much more sense.

Lestrade wearing a tie – just no! Sherlock wearing jeans – definitely no! But thank the gods that the costume department had already found The Coat.

Missing footage from episode 1: Sherlock taking his own equipment with him to Brixton (not that he used it here either).

Coky Giedroyc did a fine job of directing this pilot, but Paul McGuigan’s film experience made episode 1 so much better. A typical example: here John thinks that Sherlock has left for Brixton and starts to read the paper as Mrs Hudson goes to make him a cup of tea. The camera then pans across to show Sherlock watching him from the lounge door. In episode 1 in that same scene, Sherlock speaks from the doorway before we (or John) know he’s there and the camera then swings across to show him, and it’s much more effective that way.

Sherlock is way too smiley at times in this version; the rarely smiling sociopath in the broadcast episodes is a far more powerful character.

John and Sherlock wearing seatbelts in the back of the taxi: much more legal, but visually ... just NO!

If you’re driving from Baker Street to Brixton, you don’t go anywhere near the Houses of Parliament, so that’s touristy background which has been inserted purely because it looks good on the telly.

At the beginning of Sherlock’s revelations about how he knows so much about Harry, he’s holding John’s phone, but how did he get it? He doesn’t ask John if he can look at it and we don’t see him take it from John’s pocket. In episode 1 he refers to the phone and kind of gestures for it so that John gets it out.

There are some strange and not very pleasant sound effects, and an annoying tinkling in the background music during the flashback.

Sally Donovan is re-cast, though the two actresses look similar and speak in a very similar way.

I boggled at the sight of Anderson with a really odd-looking beard and only realised it was the same actor when he spoke. No wonder (according to the episode 1 commentary) the people who saw the pilot thought he was a baddie wearing a fake beard!!

It’s more logical for Sherlock to wear the blue coverall like everybody else, but it makes him look less heroic, and he doesn’t get to do that knicker-melting twirl in The Coat that he did in episode 1 while he was looking around for the suitcase.

There’s a longer hold on John’s look of shock and sadness at his first sight of the woman in pink. It is there in episode 1 but it’s more obvious here.

OK, I know that a lot of people thought it looked like a cross between Batman, a werewolf, and Captain Jack from Torchwood, but this fangirl went completely wobbly at the sight of Sherlock on the roof ... and from the look on his face, so did John!

Northumberland Street is called Northumberland Terrace here, which I wish they’d kept to in episode 1 if only to stop me being annoyed about knowing there isn’t a 22 Northumberland Street in real life!

When the taxi driver (credited solely as The Taxi Driver in this version, rather than as Jeff in episode 1) rings John’s phone, his number comes up. I would have expected him to block the number.

Angelo the restaurant owner is a different actor from episode 1, possibly because the actor here was too well known as Luigi in the British series Ashes to Ashes and was pretty much playing an identical role here.

Great lines:
John: “Are you going to [eat]?”
Sherlock: “What day is it?”
John: “It’s Wednesday.”
Sherlock: “I’m OK for a bit.”

John (at the end of the girlfriend/boyfriend conversation): “Whatever shakes your ... boat. ... I’m gonna shut up now.”

This version of events makes more sense in that Sherlock knows what (if not who) the killer is much earlier than in episode 1.

Why does the taxi driver answer the pink phone when Sherlock rings it? Even if he thinks that the woman in pink somehow survived and is calling her phone, he doesn’t want to be talking to her, surely, or even activating the phone in case it can be traced?

After Sherlock regains consciousness back at 221B, the taxi driver says, “The whole house is empty. Even your landlady’s away.” Who else lives there?

Great line:
The taxi driver: “You’ve gotta admit: as serial killers go, I’m verging on nice!”

At least the pills are a sensible size this time! But it was definitely a better idea putting them into clear bottles in episode 1: it was really clunky the way that the taxi driver had to take them out of the brown bottles so we could see what they were.

How does John (a) get into the opposite flat, which must presumably be empty, and (b) see what’s going on inside 221B through the net curtains? He might be able to see vague movement, but he would need a telescope to be able to see clearly enough to know exactly when it’s necessary for him to shoot.

I like how in this version Lestrade asks about the pills and Sherlock explains that he lost track of which was which. That was missing from episode 1.

I think I marginally prefer this conversation between John and Sherlock once Sherlock has realised who the shooter was. I especially like John’s “I’ll sleep fine tonight” and Sherlock’s soft “Quite right” in reply. I also like the way John rescues Sherlock from Lestrade by saying that he’s his doctor, though I wouldn’t have given up episode 1’s “I’m in shock – look, I’ve got a blanket!” line for anything.

Anderson is (correctly) credited as Doctor Anderson here rather than simply by his surname in episode 1. The actress playing Molly is credited as “Loo Brealey” here but as “Louise Brealey” in episode 1. imdb.com lists her as Loo but maybe she’s changed her name slightly. The two taxi drivers are distinguished by calling the one who drives John to Baker Street “Cabbie” and the murderer “Taxi Driver” although technically the terms are interchangeable.