Benedict Cumberbatch is best known for the BBC series Sherlock but has also appeared as Edmund Talbot in a dramatisation of William Golding’s To the Ends of the Earth. On stage, he was in Frankenstein and his films include Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He will voice Smaug the dragon in Peter Jackson’s film of The Hobbit.
As well as starring in a dramatisation of Golding you are now appearing in a documentary about him. What is it about Golding that appeals?
Partly it’s because he lived so many lives, as a sailor and a teacher as well as a writer. And he’s a phenomenal writer. He writes with great wit and he’s very frank in his assessment of man’s inhumanity to man.
You taught in a Tibetan monastery in your gap year. Did you enjoy it?
I was teaching monks but I wasn’t a particularly good teacher. It’s very rewarding but it’s incredibly hard work.
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Has Sherlock changed your life?
To the outside world it looks like everything has changed overnight but I have been working for ten years. And I’m still having to prove myself.
In Frankenstein you performed naked. Was that alarming?
Alarming’s one word. But you just have to get over it. There’s a hell of a lot to concentrate on.
One of the critics was rather worried about splinters.
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I had no problem with splinters. But [in rehearsals] we originally had a birthing pool and while it was a great idea [the water] meant you couldn’t get any purchase on the stage. So I slid out and went flying across the stage and I cut myself open in several places. Not in that place. But I’ve got a few scars from that production which I’m very proud of.
It’s been announced that you are in the new Star Trek movie — playing who?
An undisclosed role.
Is it an enjoyable undisclosed role?
Very enjoyable indeed.
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You learnt the violin to be able to play Sherlock. Was that enjoyable or painful?
I would never insult the musical profession by saying that I had learnt the violin. I am desperately trying to convince people that what I am playing looks realistic. I have had some lessons.
Caitlin Moran has described you in The Times as having “clay-white skin” with a “sexy-sloth face”.
I’ve had some very weird and interesting comparisons to my face — a meerkat, a hammerhead shark ... they all blend into one. I don’t take any offence.
It’s been said that you’re similar to Sherlock. Are you?
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I’m like every character I’ve ever played. There is an awful lot of me that’s not like Sherlock but that’s the me to share with those I know and love.
Benedict Cumberbatch appears in Arena: The Dreams of William Golding, tonight, BBC Two, 9.30pm