A stoat called Furlock Holmes

Chronological but I’ll colour code for direct and indirect (mysterious third thing)

• The first, I believe, came in a Mailbag episode (a Patreon exclusive). I can’t remember the episode number but I’ll describe it:

Sherlock and John are discussing their childhoods whilst eating wasabi, Sherlock mentions that for the most part he was raised by people his parents hired “and of course myc- ”. He stops here because of the wasabi!

• The second comes in The Priory School part one.

The team are struggling with the financial demands on the business and they approach Sherlock to ask him to take on a more exclusive client. Sherlock is a bit apprehensive of the prospective cases at first takes the message on board and later reappears with a heads up about a wealthy client inbound. Sherlock is nervous but relays that the notice about the client is from:

Sherlock: “a relative - ”

Watson: “what?”

Sherlock: “ - a relatively well connected person”

So we see from this that Sherlock, worried about the state of the team’s finances has gone to someone he knows can connect him to wealthier clients - Mycroft. This one is indirect but it’s clear that Sherlock is talking about his brother.

• The third is in The Missing Three-Quarter.

In the search of missing three-quarter Godfrey Sherlock and John have broken into The Blood Archive. Once in the facility the boys begin to examine the vials of blood set out in wait for them by Dr. Armstrong.

Sherlock is concerned to find his blood, Gwen’s, John’s, Mariana’s, and “even Mycroft”.

Again, John asks Sherlock “what”; until recently it seemed possible that John knew the name and perhaps Sherlock had mentioned him “off mic”.

BUT this makes little sense with Mycroft’s original ACD introduction where it is clear even a way into their companionship Watson had no idea Sherlock had a brother. It seems much more likely that this is the way the show is going, and indeed is more or less confirmed by Six Napoleons part two.

• The fourth reference is in The Hound of the Baskervilles part three.

In this particular instance the reference comes when Mariana and John are trying to get Sherlock to accompany Sir Henry and Jamie to Dartmoor. Sherlock is seemingly stressed about his ‘Spider’ and is finding it difficult to move to another case. Mariana encourages him and tries to persuade him to go to Dartmoor saying:

To which Sherlock replies:

This is Mycroft. If you’re familiar with ACD lore you’ll know that Sherlock notes Mycroft is…more intelligent (this feels like the wrong way of putting it but it’s hard to summarise!) than he is but that Mycroft does not enjoy leg work! He prefers to think in comfort.

• The fifth is more of an Easter Egg and it comes in The Stockbroker’s Clerk.

There isn’t much to add about this one, it seems more of a tease:

But I can assure you I did screech whilst brushing my teeth when I heard this one!

• The sixth and seventh are, of course, in The Six Napoleons.

Now, I may be alone in this but I suspect the person Sherlock met at The Savoy in part one was Mycroft.

Now, I’m fully prepared to be wrong about this if we ever find out who he met but my theory is that Sherlock has been meeting Mycroft to consult about the ‘Spider’. Again, with ACD in mind, we lowkey need Mycroft for later events, and it would make a lot of sense if his involvement starts earlier in S&Co.

The next is in part two when we meet the really delightful addition of Lily Lestrade. Lily seems to be added to take on the more field heavy plots that involve Lestrade in some stories because let’s be honest the head of the Met police isn’t likely to be doing some of these things! There are some interesting theories appearing on how Lily knows Sherlock as the Lestrade family and Holmes family must be somewhat acquainted for Sherlock to have met a six month old Lily.

Although that said, I’m don’t think you need to be particularly close to someone to meet a six month old niece. For example, if Sherlock was already acquainted with Gwen (which seems likely going off the level of caring she showed him in her introduction), him being around her at the same time as a not new born niece is possible.

Lily’s knowledge of Mycroft is interesting, but again, if Sherlock was at Gwen’s home for some reason (we know he got himself into mischief so it doesn’t seem unlikely that she’d take on a bit of a caring role) and Mycroft collected him or picked him up when he’s been in trouble there is the space for Lily to have become at least aware of him.

BUT Lily’s words add another layer:

She must know Mycroft well enough to know that asking after him would throw Sherlock off balance. Sherlock is going out of his way to hide the existence of his brother at this point. I don’t think this is out of some issue in their relationship but more out of a reluctance to a) draw attention to Mycroft among Sherlock’s friends, and b) remember Mycroft is almost certainly an important but shadowy figure in the British establishment meaning in universe he probably doesn’t want his name thrown around in a true crime podcast!

So rather Sherlock’s reluctance to talk about Mycroft is more about who Mycroft is.