Sherlock's Benedict eyes US after 'posh-bashing'

Sherlock's Benedict eyes US after 'posh-bashing'
Sherlock's Benedict eyes US after 'posh-bashing' (Image credit: PA)

Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed he is considering leaving Britain because he's fed up with being attacked over his privileged background. The actor, 36, who shot to fame playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth in the BBC update of the detective drama, was educated at the top private school Harrow. The War Horse and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy star, whose parents were actors, told the Radio Times 'all the posh-bashing that goes on' made him consider moving to the US. "I wasn't born into land or titles, or new money, or an oil rig," he said. But Benedict said he had been 'castigated as a moaning, rich, public-school b******, complaining about only getting posh roles'. He told the magazine: "It's just so predictable... so domestic, and so dumb... It makes me think I want to go to America." Benedict, who is set to play an Edwardian aristocrat in BBC2 period drama Parade's End, said he enjoyed becoming a pin-up after Sherlock. "It puts a bit of a spring in your step. It's nice, you swagger a little bit, it's enjoyable," he said. The star added: "I've punched well above my weight this year. And that remains very much a secret... I find it hysterically funny... It's a giggle. I wield it with a massive smile." He denied that he had split with his girlfriend, the actress Olivia Poulet, last year after 12 years together because of his fame. "As much as people have conjectured, 'Oh, it's typical, it's the first love being done over', well no, of course it's f****** not," he said. "But you know, everyone gets hold of scant facts, and because they're obsessed with me, they weave a narrative."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.