‘Sherlock Holmes’ actor raced to save man from muggers
Consider this: You’re in a group of muggers in London, trying to steal a delivery man’s bike, and Sherlock Holmes comes barreling at you.
What do you do? Ask for an autograph? Run?
Four would-be thieves chose Option 2, fleeing after actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who has plays Holmes in the BBC series “Sherlock,” jumped out of an Uber and chased them down in an act the driver has said was heroic.
The Sun reported the November incident after Uber driver Manuel Dias came forward. He told the paper he did not recognize Cumberbatch at first, but it dawned on him after the assailants smashed a bottle on the victim’s head and Cumberbatch ran toward them yelling: “Leave him alone.”
There he was, star of stage and screen, blocks away from Holmes’ fictional London home, Dias realized.
“It was only then I recognized Benedict. Then it all got a bit surreal. Here was Sherlock Holmes fighting off four attackers just round the corner from Baker Street.”
Dias — who said he was transporting Cumberbatch along with his wife, Sophie Hunter — tried to help dispatch the scoundrels. “He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. He was very brave. He did most of it, to be honest. … He wasn’t injured. Then I think they also recognized it was Benedict and ran away.”
On Saturday, the delivery company thanked the actor. “Thank you Benedict Cumberbatch for your brave actions. Deliveroo riders are heroes — their safety is our priority and any violence against them is totally unacceptable,” the company wrote on Twitter. So on behalf of everyone at deliveroo: thank you.”
Cumberbatch’s representatives did not return a request for comment. The usually eloquent Cumberbatch reportedly tried to brush off praise.
“I did it out of, well, I had to, you know,” the actor said about the incident, according to Dias.