Cumberbatch: I had to ‘posh up’

AS acting challenges go, it’s something of a rarity for Harroweducated Benedict Cumberbatch – playing someone even posher than himself.

The 41- year- old takes the part of Patrick Melrose, an aristocratic playboy drug addict who struggles to overcome the damage inflicted by an abusive father, in a new television drama.

Cumberbatch said Melrose was ‘landed gentry’ – something he is not. He told Radio Times: ‘He’s properly posh. I know everyone goes on about the posh thing with me – but despite looking it, I am not that class. That class is landed gentry. I had to posh up for this.’

The new Sky Atlantic drama is based on the Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St Aubyn and is broadcast on Saturday at 9pm.