Mark Gatiss: 'We want to end Benedict and Martin's Hollywood careers'

(Image credit: BBC/Hartswood Films)

Sherlock's co-creator Mark Gatiss says he wants to put an end to the Hollywood careers of its stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

"We are doing our best to stop their film careers," joked Mark. "We have cast the two hottest actors in the world though."

Since the hit crime drama began over three years ago, the two actors have seen their CVs expand rapidly. While Benedict has appeared in Star Trek Into Darkness, Martin has taken the lead role of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit and he and Benedict co-star in the second instalment The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which is released on Friday.

Despite their growing number of commitments, Benedict and Martin are keen to go on to make more Sherlock however, and Mark is just as eager to get them together again as they are integral to the success of the BBC1 series, which returns for a third run on New Year's Day.

"It is thrilling that they're still massively up for doing the show so it is about making sure we can make everyone’s diaries," he tells TV & Satellite Week. "Our mission statement from the start was to show Sherlock and John’s friendship as imperishable, it is not about the props or locations, it is about them, they are the show and it would be impossible without them."

For the full interview read TV & Satellite Week, on sale now.

 

Caren Clark

Caren has been a journalist specializing in TV for almost two decades and is a Senior Features Writer for TV Times, TV & Satellite Week and What’s On TV magazines and she also writes for What to Watch.


Over the years, she has spent many a day in a muddy field or an on-set catering bus chatting to numerous stars on location including the likes of Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Jamie Dornan, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi as well as Hollywood actors such as Glenn Close and Kiefer Sutherland.


Caren will happily sit down and watch any kind of telly (well, maybe not sci-fi!), but she particularly loves period dramas like Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey and The Crown and she’s also a big fan of juicy crime thrillers from Line of Duty to Poirot.


In her spare time, Caren enjoys going to the cinema and theatre or curling up with a good book.