Who is new Sherlock star Sian Brooke?
When we first saw Sian Brooke in Sherlock's fourth series opener as John Watson's bus "friend", we couldn't help but think there was more to come from her.
But we had no idea that she would end up becoming not only the series' biggest villain yet, but is apparently Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes's secret sister, named Eurus. (That's how iPlayer's subtitles spell it.) At least, that's what we think for now. We're probably wrong. She's probably a Venezuelan cyborg cloned from Moriarty's DNA or something.
But who is actress Sian Brooke? Here's everything you need to know about the latest Sherlock star and potential future national treasure.
Early career
Sian trained at the National Youth Theatre before enrolling at RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), graduating in 2002.
She had to change her name from Sian Phillips to avoid confusion with the 83-year-old actress of the same name. She apparently chose the name Brooke from an English Civil War general who served at her home town.
TV work
Her first role was in the 2003 Disney series Dinotopia, before landing small parts in Rik Mayall's All About George, A Touch of Frost, Foyle's War and Victoria Wood's Housewife, 49.
In 2007, she had a recurring part as Lori in David Morrissey's drama Cape Wrath, alongside the likes of Felicity Jones and Tom Hardy. You may have also spotted her in Doc Martin, Vexed, New Tricks, Silk, Lewis and Man Down (so basically everything), and she recently appeared in the Channel 4 comedy Not Safe for Work.
Theatre
Her biggest successes have been in theatre, landing big roles in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at London's Southbank Centre.
More recently, she met and worked alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as Ophelia in the Barbican production of Hamlet.
Joining Sherlock
Co-creator Mark Gatiss has spoken about casting Sian as the third Holmes sibling, telling The Mirror: "Obviously this was a huge thing to cast Sian, as Eurus, this unknown sibling.
"And what we asked […] the casting director to do was essentially find someone that she thought should already be a big star. Who's never quite got the break. We saw a few people but Sian was just wonderful and absolutely knocked it out of the park. Wait till you see her next week. Next week is amazing."
Sherlock's series finale is on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.
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