by Justin Lewis
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There was never really much mystery about whether there would be a third series of Sherlock. Within minutes of series two finishing in January 2012, Steven Moffat tweeted the following: ‘Of course there’s going to be a third series – it was commissioned at the same time as the second. Gotcha!’ But audiences faced an agonising two-year wait, partly down to the hectic work schedules of both stars and writers. The huge popularity of Sherlock in the first place had made Cumberbatch and Freeman bankable and sought-after performers in international cinema. As a result, it was a challenge for Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (themselves busy men) to clear space in everyone’s diary in order to make series three. ‘It’s a problem by accident and design,’ Moffat told the Radio Times. ‘We have two of the biggest film stars in the world playing the leads in our show. But they seem to like doing it and we hope we can hang on to them for a bit.’
Almost inevitably, some of the cast and crew would not be able to return. For a time, it looked as if Paul McGuigan, director of most of the first six episodes, would be back. ‘It feels like we all belong to it,’ he said. ‘As a small group we always challenge each other.’ But in March 2013, just before shooting was due to begin, it was announced that he had projects over in North America. One was an adaptation of Frankenstein, the other a new biopic about Brian Epstein, the original manager in the 1960s of the Beatles and Cilla Black, who died in 1967 at the age of just thirty-two. The film would be called The Man Who, and would be co-produced by Tom Hanks.
Nor would James Moriarty, aka Andrew Scott, be returning to Sherlock. He had bowed out in the final scenes of series two during the St Bart’s rooftop confrontation with Holmes. ‘I don’t think there could have been any better exit for a character like that,’ he said. He was well aware that the potency and terror with Moriarty lay in making his appearances sparing. To have him coming back again and again risked making the character stale or even a pantomime villain of a figure. There were only so many occasions a truly evil persona could re-appear and not become over-familiar. And so Scott moved on, soon gravitating to a Channel 4 drama called Dates.
So just how had Sherlock Holmes survived the fall from the roof of St Bart’s? All sorts of weird and wonderful theories had been circulating. Maybe something or someone else had fallen off the roof – a dummy, by any chance? Perhaps when Holmes fell, he had somehow landed safely. Possibly there was a doppelgänger of Sherlock, or was Moriarty (already shot) disguised as him? Or was John Watson hallucinating, due to taking the Baskerville drug (a hangover from the previous story)?
It was, insisted a mischievous Steven Moffat, none of these possibilities. He said there was something else that no one seemed to have noticed: ‘It’s something Sherlock did that was out of character, but which nobody has picked up on.’ No trick, no cheat, it was a genuine solution to the mystery, but Moffat wondered if the millions of potential Sherlocks watching the show around the world might solve it ahead of the third series airing. ‘My problem is that the audience is more fiction-literate than ever. In Shakespeare’s day, you probably expected to see a play once or twice in your life; today, you experience four or five different kinds of fiction every day. So staying ahead of the audience is impossible.’ And by now, it was quite an audience. The BBC had sold the first two series to a staggering 234 territories around the world, from Australia and the US to Iran and Kazakhstan.
Certainly, no one on the production was giving very much away. Everyone was keeping mum about what would happen next. Not that they were much more clued-up anyway. ‘Even we are kept in the dark about the scripts now,’ explained Martin Freeman. ‘At the end of the last series, neither Benedict nor I knew what was going to happen afterwards.’ About all he would say was that Sherlock had obviously faked his own death, and given the title of their continuing series, that was a given. The mystery was how he had done so. The fanbase was feverishly waiting for the answer. But that’s how it should be, argued Cumberbatch. The public didn’t really want to know the answer before the next episode. ‘It’s not paranoia, it’s not absurd control. It’s about giving the audience what they secretly want. Like a kid with a box of chocolates, once you’ve eaten them all you feel sick.’
What was promised for series three was a deepening of Sherlock’s character. If not quite maturing, he might be becoming more humane. ‘It’s about him coming to terms with the fact that he can do a better job if he has a little bit of morality, feeling and emotion,’ said Cumberbatch, ‘and to be able to play with those things without necessarily being taken over by them.’ But ultimately, Sherlock would still be driven by the attitude that his life was about a game. ‘It’s very apparent in the books that his glee and his joy comes at the beginning of the case and when he’s solved it. The game is on. He’s an animal on the scent.’
It was revealed that once again, the third series would consist of three feature-length episodes. It would open with ‘The Empty Hearse’, an appropriate choice as it referenced Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Empty House, the story that brought Sherlock back from the dead in 1903. But the Sherlock team would be mixing the traditional with the contemporary, as ever. The other two stories were announced as ‘The Sign of Three’, in which Watson would meet the love of his life, and ‘His Last Vow’, about which very little is known at the time of writing.
There would be new villains too. During the shoot, ardent fans spotted a new arch-enemy, Charles Augustus Magnussen. The actor playing him was Lars Mikkelsen, the lead in the cult Danish crime drama serial, The Killing.
Filming for the third series began in earnest in March 2013, with locations including Bristol, Cardiff and Cheltenham. Occasionally, slivers of information would enter the public domain, as in April when the production was back on the roof at St Bart’s Hospital to film the rest of the scene after Cumberbatch was seen to jump. Though the actor stood on a platform, a stunt double actually performed the jump.
The shoots in Bristol and Cheltenham had led some fans to turn up in the hope of getting to meet the stars, as well as surreptitiously taking photographs and uploading them to the Internet. Eventually, Sue Vertue had to beg them to stop. She wrote on the official Sherlock Tumblr.com blog: ‘Our London shooting schedule is punishing, and will really give us very little time to interact with you… Also… the majority of fans and indeed ourselves would REALLY appreciate it if you didn’t post pictures or spoilers or ideally our daily locations.’ By the end of the summer of 2013, the final scenes had been shot, with the finished episodes broadcast in January 2014.
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As with any career, there are lots of what-ifs and curiosities in Cumberbatch’s past. He was apparently considered a strong contender for Doctor Who after David Tennant’s departure from the role, but was happy enough for Matt Smith to take on the part of the Time Lord. ‘David and I talked about it, but I thought it would have to be radically different. And anyway, I didn’t really like the whole package – being on school lunchboxes.’ He soon dashed those rumours completely, in any case: he had never been offered the role, and in any case, would have turned it down. ‘Jumping on to school stages and giving out prizes, and saying, “I am the Doctor”,’ he sighed to The Sunday Times. ‘It’s not where I want to go.’ It was tricky enough having the feverish fanbase of Sherlock, although Steven Moffat liked the notion that Cumberbatch might yet play the Doctor’s arch-enemy, The Master. ‘Fans will love the idea of the man who plays Sherlock taking on the Doctor. Benedict is the perfect choice if schedules can work.’
In a curious way, as Sherlock, Cumberbatch had inherited exactly the kind of mystique that had always been the hallmark of classic Doctor Who. Waris Hussein, director of the very first Doctor Who story for the BBC, back in 1963, told BBC Radio 4’s The Reunion in 2013 that he was disappointed with the growing references to sexuality in Doctor Who. ‘Recently, the Doctor was actually snogged by his new companion. Once you have that on screen, people anticipate them getting together. The person who is mysterious and un
available now is the new Sherlock. There’s been a strange transference, because Sherlock was the type of mysterious character I always wanted the Doctor to stay.’
Cumberbatch was again suggested as a possible replacement for Matt Smith in Doctor Who before Peter Capaldi was selected as his successor. But it always seemed an improbable and impractical suggestion, especially with Sherlock still so popular. How could someone play both parts?
Any A-list actor finds his name associated with numerous projects, whether or not he signs up in the end. A big-screen version of Frankenstein, with Guillermo del Toro directing, and to potentially feature Cumberbatch has been mooted, as has the part of Brian Epstein in Sherlock director Paul McGuigan’s biopic, The Man Who. At the time of writing, both of these projects remain possibilities rather than certainties, as did the whisper that he might soon become a nemesis of Daniel Craig’s James Bond. ‘It would be a childhood ambition fulfilled,’ promised a statement from Bond HQ. ‘Playing a Bond villain is one of the plum roles in film history and he’d jump at the chance.’ Especially since his previous Bond audition (for a computer game) had gone nowhere: ‘This seemed like the best chance to play Bond I’d get. I went along to this shabby sweatbox in Soho. After a two-hour wait, they made me leap over sofas. The worst of it was, I did it.’ He wasn’t called back.
A mysterious omission from the Cumberbatch CV which hardly anyone has seen is The Dark Side of the Earth, a sci-fi story made in 2008 about a hypochondriac who inhabits a sealed bodysuit. Despite being an expensive project, it never reached the public domain. Cumberbatch misfires are few and far between, and it remains to be seen if The Dark Side of the Earth emerges in some form or other in the future.
He had turned some things down flat. Hollywood asked him to be in a screen version of Dracula. He said no. ‘I’ve been fighting it rather than being in it,’ he told the Radio Times. ‘I don’t like to repeat myself too much. There are too many vampire franchises.’ He pulled out of the horror flick Crimson Peak, to be replaced by Tom Hiddleston and was supposedly being considered for a new Star Wars movie as ‘a Darth Vader-style villain’, but denied any association with it. He was even offered the part of King Edward VIII for Madonna’s directorial feature film debut, W.E. After being invited to her home and expecting a brief chat and a read-through at most, she suggested a dress rehearsal. ‘I ended up in a suit and tie with Madonna operating the camera herself. We walked around the room trying to do the scene, with her going, “This shot’s not working, I don’t know why.”’ The part went to James D’Arcy, although given the ferocious critical reception the released film received, Cumberbatch may have had a lucky escape.
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Besides, he had quite enough on his plate in 2013. After filming The Fifth Estate early on in the year, he took the place of Leonardo DiCaprio in The Imitation Game, the real-life story of the mathematician Alan Turing, with Keira Knightley co-starring. Turing had been instrumental in inventing the modern computer. He had also helped to crack the German Enigma code during World War II, saving thousands of lives in the process, but was persecuted in post-war Britain for his homosexuality and arrested in 1952. Given the choice of being sent to prison or put on probation, so long as he would take hormonal treatment to reduce his sex drive, Turing opted for the latter. Two years later, he took his own life.
So, what’s next for Benedict Cumberbatch? Judging from IMDB, there’s a long list of screen commitments, stretching out to 2015. Future projects in various stages of completion include The Lost City of Z, an adaptation of City of Angels, and a favourite of Cumberbatch’s from his youth, in which he will play the Amazonian explorer, Percy Fawcett. ‘In order to get the whole film noir detective thing,’ he explained, ‘I smoked a lot and drank a lot of whisky. I used to smoke quite a bit and it deepened my voice.’
The one area he had neglected in recent times was stage work. His last stint in British theatre had been Frankenstein in 2011, but he fully intended to return, regardless of the film shoots abroad. ‘I’m aching to get back on the stage,’ he admitted in May 2013. ‘It’s weird in this culture that we have this idea that we own people: “Oh, we’re going to lose him to Hollywood”. No, you’re not. I’ve got a suitcase and my home and life are in London. I’m just thrilled that Hollywood appreciates what I’m doing at the moment.’
In his position he could just chase the big roles, but as Cumberbatch is interested in the long career and not fame, his ambitions remain varied. Directing is a possibility, partly so that he can experience the making of a film from conception to completion: ‘As an actor you are never there for every heartbeat of it.’
And what about dream roles? Once he had longed to play Nick Drake in a biopic, although regretted that contemporary Ben Whishaw bore a closer resemblance to the singer-songwriter. Was he ready for Hamlet yet? ‘It’s been inflicted on audiences too much. I mean, fucking Jasper Carrott will be doing it next! It’s like there’s a queue. I think we’re just seeing people do their Hamlet, that’s where it goes wrong.’ Besides, he had another royal role in mind: ‘I’m more interested in Edward II at the moment.’
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Benedict Cumberbatch still lives in Hampstead, North London. He nips around the city on his motorbike and plays five-a-side football whenever possible. He still has no plans to move away from the UK, but is more than happy to work almost anywhere. ‘My home’s in London, and my family and friends are all there. But I’m a nomad at the moment with no dependants, so I’m quite happy to pack a suitcase and travel wherever I’m asked to go.’
An ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, he frequently takes part in events for the charity. In October 2012, he cycled the Palace to Palace bike ride, westwards from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle in Berkshire. The distance was 45 miles, or 72 kilometres. ‘I don’t get the opportunity to cycle much so it was fantastic to take part on such a beautiful route through London. It’s worth it for such an important cause. The Prince’s Trust is a charity which I am passionate about helping. With so many young people struggling to find work in the UK, I feel it’s vital we do everything we can to make sure all young people have the opportunities to succeed.’
In his late thirties, Cumberbatch has unwittingly become a role model, partly through his work but also through the fame which has accidentally engulfed him. Sherlock has made him a star, but how much longer can that show continue, in light of all his other work? Executive producers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss certainly hope it can carry on. ‘We love the idea of the audience growing up with the show and the characters growing too,’ Gatiss said, just as series three was nearing completion. ‘There is something lovely in the idea of Benedict and Martin aged 55 sitting at a fireplace, being the age we associate with Holmes and Watson.’
Television drama in Britain had become event TV once again. Just as soaps, reality TV and sport had become water-cooler topics, so primetime drama with large casts was becoming equally popular: Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, Broadchurch, international crime dramas like The Killing, Top of the Lake and Wallander. DVD box sets had become the currency of TV drama, with a story arc over many episodes, as in a novel.
The trend for star vehicles, where an actor had an exclusive contract with a network and had shows created for them, had waned. ‘We are mostly dealing with ensemble casts,’ said one ITV executive. ‘Broadchurch was actually an ensemble drama with a cast of actors who all had a brilliant role to play.’ Even Sherlock was not really a star vehicle for Benedict Cumberbatch, but more about his association with Dr John Watson. Just as Cumberbatch’s parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton (both of whom guest star in Sherlock’s third series), had not had series built around them, but had appeared in numerous series as resident cast members, Cumberbatch had rarely been The Star of something.
In the case of Sherlock, it may be that keeping the series occasional and lean, at just three episodes per series every couple of years, could ensure that it lasts for some time yet. It enables the main cast – and i
ndeed its writers – to work on other things. ‘There is a traditional model of making television,’ explained Steven Moffat, ‘where you make an awful lot of episodes over five, six or seven years, until you get utterly sick of it and never make the show again.’ Why not, then, take breaks to keep the creative process fresh?
The variations on the Sherlock Holmes character, in any case, show little sign of slowing down. The comic Joe Pasquale is, at the time of writing, playing Holmes on a stage tour of the UK. Sir Ian McKellen has been cast as an elderly Sherlock for a Bill Condon movie called A Slight Trick of the Mind.
At the time of the second series, Cumberbatch was in teasing, ambiguous mode about the future of Sherlock: ‘I should maybe say that I’m ready to say goodbye to him, but I would miss him. It’s much better to leave people wanting more.’
The extraordinary fame that Sherlock had brought Benedict Cumberbatch risked locking him into being perceived for just one role, always a peril for any actor. But there’s another side to that fame: when you’re that well-known, and that respected, you can use that power and clout for other projects. For someone as ambitious and curious as Cumberbatch, he looked forward to a time when he would not be solely defined by the popular media as Sherlock Holmes. ‘[Sherlock] gives you the power to do the kind of work you want to do. So obviously, some of it’s constructive. That’s the bit I’m interested in.’
SOURCES
BBC, Belfast Telegraph, Coventry Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Record, Daily Star, Daily Telegraph, Design Week, Express on Sunday, Financial Times, Glasgow Herald, Guardian, The Harrovian, Hollywood Reporter, Independent, Independent on Sunday, Irish Independent, Irish Times, ITV, LA Times, Mail on Sunday, Marketing Week, National Public Radio, New York Times, Northern Echo, Observer, The People, Radio Times, Reader’s Digest, Scotland on Sunday, Scotsman, SFX, ShortList, The Stage and Television Today, Sun, Sunday Mail, Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Sydney Daily Telegraph, Time Out, The Times, Total Film, Variety, Western Morning News, World Entertainment News Network, TheWrap.com, Yorkshire Post.
