Praise for star after ‘heroic’ reaction
LONDON — The fooddelivery firm Deliveroo thanked Benedict Cumberbatch on Saturday after a newspaper reported that the Sherlock star had fought off muggers who were attacking one of its cyclists.
Uber driver Manuel Dias told the Sun newspaper that he was driving Cumberbatch and his wife Sophie Hunter along London’s Marylebone High Street when they saw a cyclist being hit with a bottle.
Cumberbatch, 4 1 , jumped out of his taxi and ran to the aid of the man, the newspaper reported. “The cyclist was lucky, Benedict’s a superhero,” Dias said. “Benedict was courageous, brave and selfless. If he hadn’t stepped in the cyclist could have been seriously injured.”
The attempted robbery took place just around the corner from Holmes’ fictional home on Baker Street.
“One of the males attempted to grab the victim’s cycle ... He was then punched in the face, struck on the head and hit with his helmet,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement, adding that the incident took place in November last year.
“Nothing was reported stolen. The victim did not require hospital treatment. No arrests have been made.”
Cumberbatch, who has played the fictional detective in TV series Sherlock since 2010, has also starred in films such as The Hobbit, Avengers: Infinity War and The Imitation Game, where he portrayed British World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing.
On Saturday, Deliveroo praised Cumberbatch “for his heroic actions”.
“On behalf of everyone at Deliveroo: Thank you so much,” it said.
However, Cumberbatch told the Sun he was not a hero.
“I did it out of, well, I had to, you know?” he was quoted as saying.