HE’s a household name thanks to the BBC’s hit detective drama Sherlock – and Benedict Cumberbatch’s star looks set to continue to rise as he moves from Baker Street to Hollywood.
Just days after the new series of the acclaimed updating of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales begins tomorrow night, Benedict will be on the big screen in Steven Spielberg’s movie War Horse.
But while learning to ride for the film’s action scenes, his horse nearly brought a promising career to a sticky end. “I couldn’t ride,” says the 35-year-old, who attended £30,000-a-year Harrow School.
“I’d had a go at it when I was 12 but I wasn’t very good at it. So I had to learn to do it properly.
“There are these amazing delicate instructions going on between man and animal, it’s magic. To get a horse to hit a mark without a rider, to get it to stand up, to get it to rear, to get it to pick up a bucket and bring it over is amazing. It’s hard work and very rewarding but can be dangerous.
“One day my horse, called Faldo, reared and I thought it was game over. I was charging around on him, show-jumping and picking up stuff and dropping it off. I think I just went for it too much and accidently gave him a confusing instruction, kicking him as well as reining him back.
“He thought I meant for him to stand up and the next thing I know he started going. I made the classic mistake of pulling on the reins to keep my seat and he started to go backwards, which is really dangerous because he was about to fall backwards on top of me. That was a near miss.
“The day before I had a horse who spooked on me and just bolted and it was really scary. My horse saw a movement and was galloping along and just ground to halt.
“There were hoof skid marks in the ground. It was very worrying. It turned out it was only a butterfly but it was pretty terrifying to be on a 17-and-a-half hand stallion doing an emergency stop.”
Recalling the moment he clinched the part in War Horse, based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo, Benedict says: “I got a call from my agent and he could barely contain the smile in his voice.
He said, ‘I’ve got some exciting news – Steven Spielberg has rung and he is a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch’.
“Steven wanted me to go and read a script. I went along, had a little chat about the part and off I went. A week and a half later I got another call from my agent who said, ‘Ben, he wants you to do it’.
“I was so excited. It was the most grown up moment of my life. I was told I couldn’t tell anyone. I was walking around with this huge grin on my face and couldn’t speak with excitement.”
Even before the hugely anticipated Spielberg movie takes his fame worldwide, Benedict is finding the simple act of walking along the streets a very different experience to what it was before BBC1 drama Sherlock became a massive hit.
Nine million people watched the first series and the start of the next instalment tomorrow is eagerly anticipated by fans. Benedict remembers the moment he realised he had hit the big time: “I was in Tesco and went up to the deli counter. The staff were all talking and joking and I interrupted by asking, ‘Can I possibly have some chicken?’
“They all stared at me. A younger guy split off from the group and said, ‘Mate, I’m not being funny but you know that series Sherlock? You look quite a lot like him.’ I said, ‘I am Sherlock’. It was the first time I had been properly recognised.”
In the new three-part series, viewers will see Sherlock fall in love with a dominatrix and there will be fisticuffs with Dr Watson, again played by The Office actor Martin Freeman.
The pair make a formidable team but - despite rumours to the contrary - Benedict says the on-screen relationship is purely platonic: “Yes, the last series played on that quite a few times, with two men living together, and so many people getting it wrong.
“But episode one presents a very definite female presence in the form of Irene Adler, and she is more than a match for Sherlock. It’s really nice to have a female counterpart.”
Before Sherlock, the actor already had a string of strong roles behind him, including a part in Oscar-winning Atonement and playing real-life genius Professor Stephen Hawking.
But the prime time show was his real mainstream break-through and he admits he was nervous about it. He explains: “It’s quite scary being at the centre of this massive hit show. Being recognised is a great thing, I’m really flattered by it, but I’m sure the horrible side will kick in at some point.”
Away from acting Benedict enjoys yoga, open air swimming, running, is a keen cook and admits watching Strictly Come Dancing is a guilty pleasure. However, he wishes there was more good drama and less reality TV on our small screens.
He says: “Unfortunately, there are always going to be more actors than there are good roles.”
But, like much of the rest of the country, he has grown very fond of Sherlock. He adds: “He appeals because he has an ability that is earned by hard graft. What he has is achievable, it’s not magic, it’s not a superpower.
“He’s very British, he is the original troubled detective. I am like him in some ways. For example I get frustrated with mediocrity on a daily basis, as we all do, but I’m not quite as devastatingly rude as he is.”
3Sherlock will start on BBC1 tomorrow at 8.10pm.
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