Benedict Cumberbatch

ENEDICT CUMBERBATCH has played detective and monster barrister and scientist politician and painter comic and spy. Still only in his thirties he has become one of Britain's foremost acting talents excelling in theatre television radio and cinema. With a string of starring and supporting roles he has portrayed contemporary icons historical figures and fictional favourites from Stephen Hawking to William Pitt the Younger to Frankenstein. He has become a radio comedy staple too as the bungling airline pilot Captain Martin Crieff in Radio 4's Cabin Pressure. But inevitably he is still best known for his idiosyncratic and boldly 21st century incarnation of Sherlock Holmes in the BBC TV series Sherlock. In this book Justin Lewis traces Benedict Cumberbatch's career to date from his early promise in Harrow School plays through his first supporting roles in film theatre and TV to national and international acclaim. He examines his considerable contributions not only to Sherlock but also to Sir Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Parade's End on television and to feature films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Star Trek Into Darkness and War Horse.