Benedict Cumberbatch: Parade's End director calls Benedict Cumberbatch "one of the finest actors of his generation" Susanna White admits that "without Cumberbatch, Parade’s End would be nothing like it is" (RADIO TIMES)

Tom Cole
11:24 AM, 27 February 2013

Bafta award-winning Parade’s End director Susanna White has called Benedict Cumberbatch “one of the finest actors of his generation” and admitted that “without him, Parade’s End would be nothing like it is.”

White is currently promoting the BBC period drama in the States ahead of its transmission on HBO, and opened up earlier this week about how lucky she was to secure the 36-year-old Sherlock star for the lead role of aristocrat Christopher Tietjens.

“There were less than a handful of actors who could have played that role," White told Collider. "Christopher is so buttoned up and so self-enclosed, and yet you have to really care about his situation. I knew Benedict could do that.”

The 52-year-old director also admitted that she was grateful to find an actor capable of tackling the role, who looked nothing like the “fat ox” described in Ford Maddox Ford’s 1920s novels, which formed the basis of the drama.

“I wanted women to really fall in love with him, so it was important to find somebody who would be both attractive and who also could play the emotional layers and have the intelligence,” she said.

READ MORE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-02-27/parades-end-director-calls-benedict-cumberbatch-one-of-the-finest-actors-of-his-generation