I’m really not that posh, says Benedict Cumberbatch

PUBLIC school-educated Benedict Cumberbatch claims he had to ‘posh up’ to play his latest TV role.

The British actor, who went to Harrow, says Patrick Melrose, the title character in a new Sky Atlantic drama, is ‘landed gentry’.

‘He’s properly posh,’ said the 41-year-old. ‘I know everyone goes on about the posh thing with me — but despite looking it, I am not this class. I had to posh up for this.’

The father-of-two describes the five-part adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s bestselling books as a real passion project.

‘Melrose and Hamlet were the only two roles I was ever desperate to play. And now I’ve done both. I can retire,’ he joked.

The Sherlock star said the series, about a troubled but privileged heroin addict, doesn’t glamorise drug-taking. ‘The consequences are fairly clearly laid out,’ he told Radio Times.

Patrick Melrose starts next Sunday at 9pm on Sky Atlantic

Author: Tom Stichbury