THERE WAS excellent news this week for those of us who enjoy nothing better than settling down with Benedict Cumberbatch on a Sunday night.
The red-hot actor has credited the BBC crime drama Sherlock – which just completed its third season on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery on these shores – with launching his career internationally, and despite being deluged with film offers, Cumberbatch has no intention of leaving his role as the titular socially-awkward detective until he feels the loveable character has stopped “developing”.
He told USA Today: “I’ll keep doing it as long as [Sherlock grows], as long as I feel he’s developing and there’s stuff we’re all being challenged by and that it’s being loyal to the original stories as well.
“[The show has] done a lot. Won’t say it’s changed my life, because I had a huge break at the same time as this role first came to fruition.
“It was a sort of perfect storm of all mediums coming together at the same time – television, film and theatre, even some radio.”
Meanwhile, Sherlock producer Sue Vertue has hinted fans could be treated to longer series in future, although episodes will stay true to their original 90-minute format.
She told Collider.com: “You might not always have three episodes. The [unaired] pilot was 60 minutes. But… we shot it again and made the pilot 90 minutes. Since then, it’s always been 90 minutes.
“You might not always have three, possibly … but they’ll stay that length. It’s a good length, I think.”
Two more series of Sherlock – which also stars Martin Freeman as Watson – have currently been commissioned.
In last Sunday’s season finale Sherlock looked set to fly off into the sunset for a spell undercover in Eastern Europe after killing a slimy media mogul who was blackmailing Watson. But true to form in this compelling series, he was brought back at the last moment following the unlikely reappearance of his (presumed-dead) arch-enemy, Jim Moriarty.
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