'Sherlock' Season 5 Air Date, Spoilers: Will Benedict Cumberbatch And Martin Freeman Reprise Their Roles?

By Nica Virtudazo

Feb 07, 2019 05:05 PM

Many fans are now thrilled for the up-and-coming series Sherlock Season 5, which explains why it is one of the much-talked-about shows online. However, due to the lack of information about it, avid followers of the franchise are forced to create their theories and predictions.

EconoTimes reported that Sherlock Season 5 is very unlikely to premiere soon due to many personal and technical reasons. One major reason why the imminent fifth installment is not dropping any time soon is because of the tainted friendship of series main stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

Followers of the two actors can recall how they previously shaded each other. Freeman voiced his aversion at fans' unrealistic expectations for the series and how they responded to the series' fourth installment. Cumberbatch did not like his co-star's statement and even described it as "pathetic." This, then, made fans speculate that Sherlock Season 5 might not happen at all.

Freeman, however, made it clear that he is very appreciative of the things the series had done to the fans, staff, and cast. Despite the alleged spat, showrunners Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat are still interested in doing Sherlock Season 5.

"Well, we're never not talking to each other because we're friends! We hang out," Moffat told CinemaBlend when asked about the possibility of having Sherlock Season 5. "We've never said necessarily goodbye to Sherlock. No, we'll see. We'll see," the series creator added.

What most fans do not know is that Moffat and Gattis are, currently, doing a new series titled Dracula, which is a project in collaboration with BBC and Netflix. This, according to the same report, is also one of the major hindrances that prevent them from working on Sherlock Season 5.

BUSINESS TIMES

 

Benedict Cumberbatch: Actors shouldn't take jobs where their female co-stars aren't paid equally

Abigail Hess | @AbigailJHess  2 Hours Ago
CNBC

Gareth Cattermole/Disney via Getty Images

Benedict Cumberbatch attends the UK Fan Event to celebrate the release of Marvel Studios' 'Avengers: Infinity War'

Benedict Cumberbatch, known for playing Marvel's Dr. Strange and the BBC's Sherlock Holmes, suggested in a recent interview that male actors — including himself — should turn down roles in productions in which women are not paid equally.

"Look at your quotas. Ask what women are being paid, and say: 'If she's not paid the same as the men, I'm not doing it,'" Cumberbatch said in an interview with Radio Times Sunday while promoting his latest series, "Patrick Melrose."

Cumberbatch hopes to enact this policy at his new production company, SunnyMarch, as well.

"I'm proud that [business partner] Adam [Ackland] and I are the only men in our production company," he said. "Our next project is a female story with a female lens about motherhood, in a time of environmental disaster. If it's centered around my name, to get investors, then we can use that attention for a raft of female projects."

He says that focusing on women-centric stories is both the right thing to do, and good business.

"Equal pay and a place at the table are the central tenets of feminism," said Cumberbatch, who has long spoken about his identity as a feminist.


READ MORE HERE

Michelle Williams Eyes ‘Rio’ With Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal

Variety
By Justin Kroll

Michelle Williams is in talks to join Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal in the StudioCanal pic “Rio.”

“Call Me By Your Name” helmer Luca Guadagnino is directing from a script by Steven Knight.

The film follows a financial reporter (Gyllenhaal) who travels to Rio de Janeiro to visit a wealthy friend (Cumberbatch), only to get sucked into a plot to fake his friend’s death.

Studiocanal will finance and produce along with Cumberbatch and his Sunny March production company with Adam Ackland as well as Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker who will produce through their Nine Stories banner.


http://variety.com/2017/film/news/michelle-williams-rio-benedict-cumberbatch-jake-gyllenhaal-1202617247/

Benedict Cumberbatch Interview

By Thom Yorke

It seems like a lot more than seven years have gone by since Benedict Cumberbatch first donned his deerstalker as Sherlock Holmes, the alarmingly incisive yet socially inept detective in the BBC series that catapulted his Hollywood career. That’s because, in the ensuing time, the London-born actor has graduated from fan-girl obsession to franchise superstar, while steadily appearing in a succession of prestige projects in theater, film, and television. His mix of gravitas and humility works exceptionally well in fantastical worlds: as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013); as Smaug the dragon and the Necromancer in The Hobbit film series (2012, 2013, 2014); and as Dr. Stephen Strange in Marvel’s Doctor Strange (2016), a role to which he will return in next year’s Avengers: Infinity War. Back on planet Earth, Cumberbatch has a knack for inhabiting the minds of geniuses, empathetically depicting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate in 2013; Alan Turing in The Imitation Game the following year (for which he earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations); and, most recently, Thomas Edison in The Current War, in theaters next year.

Now 41, Cumberbatch is considered one of the most accomplished and ambitious actors of his generation. It would be an understatement to suggest that he has a serious streak, but as his friend, the legendary Radiohead rocker Thom Yorke, is determined to prove, all men—no matter how focused—contain multitudes.

THOM YORKE: I don’t have any chronology to my questions. My approach is a bit more random, a bit more Just Seventeen [an out-of-print British teen magazine]. I actually want to start with the year you taught in a monastery in Darjeeling when you were 19. How was that experience?


BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: It was in an exiled Tibetan community, just outside of Darjeeling, on the border. It was a little hill station town. I was one of five teachers who had done a training course. It was extraordinary, but it was quite an isolated experience.

YORKE: How long did you do that?

CUMBERBATCH: It was five months. I spent half a year working odd jobs to build up funds for the airfare and to pay for the course. You’re not paid for the teaching; you’re paid in experience. You’re surrounded by the monks and their lives. It was a small monastery, and the top floor was the temple. I was living on the bottom floor, which was pretty damp and had huge spiders. I think it was just near the end of the rainy season; I can’t remember, but it was cold. And because it was so high up, you would open your window, and the clouds were like dry ice rolling across your desk. Nature was ever present; that was gobsmackingly beautiful, as was the spirit and nature and philosophy and way of life of these monks.

YORKE: It sounds like you absorbed a lot of that, just by being there. You didn’t have to study it.

CUMBERBATCH: Exactly, it just seeped in. The personalities of the monks were louder than any lesson.


READ MUCH MORE HERE: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/benedict-cumberbatch-november-2017-issue

Benedict Cumberbatch filming in Glasgow - city council leader welcomes Sky Atlantic show Melrose

Glasgow Live
Magdalene Dalziel
08:00, 28 OCT 2017

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch is heading to Glasgow this weekend.

But it will be more business than pleasure for the star, who will be in town to film scenes for Sky Atlantic show Melrose from Sunday (October 29) - Friday (November 3).

And city council leader Susan Aitken has welcomed the news, along with thousands of other excited residents.

She said: “It is great to see that yet another major production is coming to Glasgow to film.

"We look forward to welcoming the shoot to the city, and showing exactly why film and broadcast productions return to the city."

Susan also praised the hard work of Glasgow Film Office for setting up the shoot.


http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/benedict-cumberbatch-filming-glasgow-city-13823590

2018 Golden Globes: With Riz Ahmed out, Benedict Cumberbatch or Ewan McGregor may get revenge after Emmy loss

Gold Derby
Jeffrey Kare
TV  October 24, 2017 2:00P

At last year’s Golden Globe Awards “The Night Of” earned three nominations: Best Movie/Miniseries as well as Best Movie/Mini Actor for its two stars, Riz Ahmed and John Turturro. Though it went home empty handed at that event, Ahmed was recently able to win a Primetime Emmy for his leading role, which was among the five total prizes the crime drama took home from the television academy.

Since “The Night Of” already competed at the Golden Globes last year, it won’t be in contention this year. Therefore Ahmed won’t be able to repeat his victory from the Emmys, opening the door for a whole new winner in the Best Movie/Mini Actor race, including several he defeated at the Emmys in September. In the past 16 years the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has chosen a wide variety of winners in this category, ranging from movie stars to veterans to popular Brits to actors in biographical roles. Here are six strong contenders who fit at least one of those molds.

At last year’s Golden Globe Awards “The Night Of” earned three nominations: Best Movie/Miniseries as well as Best Movie/Mini Actor for its two stars, Riz Ahmed and John Turturro. Though it went home empty handed at that event, Ahmed was recently able to win a Primetime Emmy for his leading role, which was among the five total prizes the crime drama took home from the television academy.

Since “The Night Of” already competed at the Golden Globes last year, it won’t be in contention this year. Therefore Ahmed won’t be able to repeat his victory from the Emmys, opening the door for a whole new winner in the Best Movie/Mini Actor race, including several he defeated at the Emmys in September. In the past 16 years the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has chosen a wide variety of winners in this category, ranging from movie stars to veterans to popular Brits to actors in biographical roles. Here are six strong contenders who fit at least one of those molds.


Benedict Cumberbatch, “Sherlock: The Lying Detective”

He has contended at the Globes twice before. The first time was in this category for the second season of “Sherlock” in 2013, where he lost to Kevin Costner for “Hatfields & McCoys.” The second time was on the film side for his performance as Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game,” where he lost Best Film Drama Actor to Eddie Redmayne for “The Theory of Everything.” If Cumberbatch is nominated again this year, would a third time be the charm? HFPA members have shown love to Brits in this category six times in the past 16 years, including last year’s champ Tom Hiddleston (“The Night Manager”).

Jude Law, “The Young Pope”

After having been nominated three times before on the film side for his performances in “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (Best Film Supporting Actor, 2000), “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (Best Film Supporting Actor, 2002), and “Cold Mountain” (Best Film Drama Actor, 2004), Law’s performance as Pope Pius XIII could make him a first-time nominee on the TV side. Like Cumberbatch, he is a Brit, and HFPA members love to award them in this category every once in a while.


Read more: http://www.goldderby.com/article/2017/2018-golden-globes-benedict-cumberbatch-ewan-mcgregor-news-793516028/

Emmy submissions: PBS ‘Masterpiece’ category placements for ‘Sherlock,’ ‘Dark Angel,’ ‘Victoria,’ 'Churchill's Secret' ... Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, Joanne Froggatt, Jenna Colman, Rufus Sewell, Mark Gatiss...many more

GOLD DERBY
Chris Beachum
TV May 3, 2017 2:30 pm

In a Gold Derby exclusive, we have learned the category placements of the key Emmy Awards contenders for PBS and its legendary “Masterpiece” programming. The network does not have perennial winner and nominee “Downton Abbey” but does have champ “Sherlock” returning with past winners Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Other TV movies include “Churchill’s Secret” (Michael Gambon), “Dark Angel” (Joanne Froggatt), “King Charles III” (Tim Pigott-Smith), and “To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters.”

Below, the list of PBS lead and supporting submissions for drama series and telefilms. More names might be added by the network before ballots are finalized this season. Also note that performers not included on this list may well be submitted by their personal reps.

'CHURCHILL’S SECRET”
TV Movie
Movie/Limited Series Actor – Michael Gambon
Movie/Limited Series Actress – Lindsey Duncan
Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor – Matthew Macfadyen
Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress – Romola Garai

“DARK ANGEL”
TV Movie
Movie/Limited Series Actress – Joanne Froggatt

“THE DURRELLS IN CORFU”
Drama Series
Drama Actress – Keeley Hawes
Drama Supporting Actor – Josh O’Connor, Milo Parker, Callum Woodhouse
Drama Supporting Actress – Daisy Waterstone



REAL MORE EMMY SUBMISSIONS HERE: http://www.goldderby.com/article/2017/emmy-submissions-pbs-masterpiece-category-placements-sherlock-dark-angel-victoria/

Does Benedict Cumberbatch deserve to win Emmy #2 for ‘Sherlock: The Lying Detective’? [POLL]

GOLD DERBY
Marcus James Dixon
TV May 4, 2017 6:00 pm

“Sherlock” fans, do you think Benedict Cumberbatch deserves to win a second Emmy Award for playing genius detective Sherlock Holmes on the PBS program? Now that we know “Sherlock: The Lying Detective” is Cumberbatch’s official Emmy 2017 submission should he receive a nomination, is his performance good enough to win a bookend trophy following his jaw-dropping 2014 victory for “Sherlock: His Last Vow”? Vote in our poll below.

As in years past, “Sherlock” is once again trying its luck in the race for Best TV Movie by submitting only one of its three telefilms for Emmy consideration. The network feels confident that “The Lying Detective” is their potential winner this year — that’s the second installment from Season 4 that aired January 8. The case is a twisty one, as Sherlock is contacted by the daughter of an entrepreneur who she claims has confessed to murder, only she can’t remember the specific details because her father wiped her memory.

Joining Cumberbatch’s Sherlock as usual is Martin Freeman as supporting sidekick John Watson. Freeman also won an Emmy in 2014 for “Sherlock,” though awards pundits theorize he may have earned a few extra votes thanks to his starring role in “Fargo” that same year. The other eligible supporting cast members for the movie/miniseries Emmy races are Toby Jones as Culverton Smith, Mark Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes, Amanda Abbington as Mary Morstan, and Sian Brooke as Elizabeth.

Last year “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride” earned six nominations and went on to become the first installment to win the Emmy for Best TV Movie. Besides Cumberbatch’s Emmy victory in 2014, his other major claim to fame in the awards spotlight was when he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for “The Imitation Game” (2014).


http://www.goldderby.com/article/2017/benedict-cumberbatch-sherlock-the-lying-detective-2017-emmys/

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in Fantastic Beasts

HYPABLE
BY KATIE AWAD
katelynawad

Sherlock fans rejoice! Fantastic Beasts has cast Martin Freeman as Dumbledore, and replaced Johnny Depp with Benedict Cumberbatch.

Oh what a day

When it was revealed Johnny Depp was to play Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts series, some people were not happy. They felt it unethical to have Depp cast in the series, because of his personal life controversy.

When director David Yates’ commented on this matter, he did little to appease the critics. People felt he was brushing aside a troubling issue, “In this business, it’s a weird old business. You’re brilliant one week, people are saying odd things the next, you go up and down. But no one takes away your pure talent.”

Heyman continues, “We’re thrilled to have Benedict join the team. Obviously we’re all huge fans of his work in Sherlock. He’s shown time and again how good he is at playing roles similar to that, so we’re really excited to see him bring that smart-guy awkwardness to Grindelwald.”

On the heels of this announcement, it’s also (finally) been revealed who will play a young Albus Dumbledore. In light of the new Grindelwald casting, this is perhaps the most unsurprising surprise to have ever surprised us: Martin Freeman will play the young Albus Dumbledore, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch’s Gellert Grindelwald.

“In addition to the recasting of Grindelwald, we’re also happy to announce that fellow Sherlock star Martin Freeman is set to play Dumbledore,” Heyman states. “It was an obvious choice, really. With Benedict now in the series, we just had to add Martin as well. And knowing Grindelwald and Dumbledore’s history, we hope Johnlock shippers will be just as excited about this as we are.”


http://www.hypable.com/fantastic-beasts-bye-bye-depp-hello-cumberbatch-freeman/

Benedict Cumberbatch and Wife Sophie Welcome Their Second Child

NEW YORK MAGAZINE
By Theresa Avila
March 27, 2017

Sophie Hunter and Benedict Cumberbatch. Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

Another baby Cumberbatch has joined the bunch. On Friday, Benedict Cumberbatch and his wife, Sophie, quietly welcomed their second child into this great big world. (Sophie also legally changed her last name from Hunter to Cumberbatch, according to People.) Their new baby is named Hal Auden Cumberbatch and he joins his younger brother Christopher “Kit” Carlton.

News of Sophie’s pregnancy came to light in October when she publicly debuted her baby bump at the premiere of Doctor Strange.


http://nymag.com/thecut/2017/03/benedict-cumberbatch-and-wife-sophie-welcome-second-child.html

Benedict Cumberbatch tackles time playing 400-year-old

BBC
14 March 2017
 From the section Entertainment & Arts

Benedict Cumberbatch bought the rights to the yet unpublished How to Stop Time which is described as a "wildly imagined love story"

Benedict Cumberbatch's versatility shows no end as he gears up for another offbeat role.
With characters like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Strange under his belt, he's signed up to play a supposed 41-year-old who is really 400.

He'll star as Tom Hazard in the film adaptation of the forthcoming How to Stop Time by author Matt Haig.

Described as a "wildly imagined love story", it follows Haig's children's books such as A Boy Called Christmas.

How to Stop Time won't hit shelves until July, but we know Hazard's youthful looks are down to an "extremely rare condition".

"The prospect of Benedict Cumberbatch playing Tom Hazard is a hugely exciting one and I could not be happier," Haig said.

The writer is best known for his quirky - and dark - stories about family life.


read more here: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39266753

Avengers: Infinity War - Benedict Cumberbatch Calls Script ‘Very Good Fun,’ Addresses Stand-In Reports

LRM
Mar. 2.17 – by Joseph Medina

It’s been a few months since Doctor Strange first entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and despite his psychedelic tendencies, he seemed to fit in very well. In many ways, he seemed to be a natural merger between the more grounded world we see in Iron Man and the more outlandish Thor.

Of course, you can’t have a story about the Infinity Gauntlet without Doctor Strange, so it goes without saying that actor Benedict Cumberbatch will be involved in its production (though he’s long since been confirmed).

However, last January, there was a report from the outlet Page Six that a stand-in was in Georgia filming in place of Cumberbatch himself while the British actor was off playing Thomas Edison in The Current War. The report stated that Marvel Studios did not plan on digitally superimposing Cumberbatch onto another actor’s performance, but that seemed to imply we’d only get a series of close-ups from the man himself.

Speaking with ET, Cumberbatch addressed this report: "It’s a bit of an exaggeration. Listen, there’s a great deal that can be done in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and any comic universe. Whether it’s hiding a pregnancy to having someone there who’s on the other side of the world, but there’s only so much they can do without you. And, so, yeah. I’ll be there. Don’t worry.”

Of course, it’s a bit impossible to tell just how involved any one character will be in this film, as we know very little regarding the plot. In the original Infinity Gauntlet comic, Strange played a vital role alongside the likes of the Silver Surfer and Adam Warlock in helping to coordinate the attack on The Mad Titan Thanos. However, given that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is dealing with a lot less characters, and that the world itself has established a host of different rules, we can’t really gauge just how prominent he’ll be in the film. Cumberbatch did give audiences a bit of a tease though regarding the Avengers: Infinity War screenplay. “I’ve got a script, and I’ve been reading it, and it’s very, very good fun.”

Read more at: http://lrmonline.com/news/avengers-infinity-war-benedict-cumberbatch-calls-script-very-good-fun-addresses-stand-in-reports

Benedict Cumberbatch To Star In Limited Series ‘Melrose’ Picked Up By Showtime

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD
by Nellie Andreeva
February 28, 2017 5:00am

Showtime Networks has ordered Melrose, a five-part limited series toplined and executive produced by Sherlock and Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch.

The project, a co-production of Showtime and Sky Atlantic, is based on the Patrick Melrose series of semi-autobiographical novels written by Edward St. Aubyn. David Nicholls (Far From the Madding Crowd), who called Cumberbatch “the perfect Patrick Melrose,” is writing all five episodes of the TV adaptation. Search is underway for a director.

Melrose skewers the upper class as it tracks the protagonist’s harrowing odyssey from a deeply traumatic childhood through adult substance abuse and, ultimately, toward recovery. Cumberbatch’s Patrick Melrose is an aristocratic and outrageously funny playboy who struggles to overcome the damage inflicted by a horribly abusive father and the mother who tacitly condoned the behavior. Each episode will follow one of the five novels, and take place over the course of a few intense days in the life of the protagonist. The settings range from the South of France in the 1960s to New York in the 1980s and Britain in the early 2000.


MORE; http://deadline.com/2017/02/benedict-cumberbatch-star-melrose-limited-series-showtime-based-on-books-1202020387/

Sherlock Co-Creator Explains Why Show May Not Return For Season 5

COMIC BOOK
Megan Peters
2/22/2017

Earlier this year, Sherlock fans were treated to a long-awaited gift. The clever BBC drama returned to televisions after years on hiatus, and the show’s fourth season was a trying one. The miniseries left behind both grief and joy in its wake, leaving fans to wonder whether a fifth season was in the works. But, according to one of the show’s co-creators, another season of Sherlock is not a sure thing.

Recently, Mark Gatiss commented on the future of Sherlock, and his words have left die-hards fans with lackluster hope. The writer and actor appeared at the WhatsOnStage Awards and explained why Sherlock may be done for good:

“I honestly don't know if there will be any more. It's incredibly difficult to get Benedict and Martin's diaries to align. And obviously we left it in a very happy place... if that's the end I'd be very happy where we left it,” Gatiss said.

Of course, it isn’t too surprising to learn the show’s stars are busy. Over the past years, both Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have been Hollywood fixtures. The former is now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to Doctor Strange, and Freeman recently joined the franchise in Captain America: Civil War. The British stars keep busy schedules, and the team behind Sherlock has said coordinating their shoots were challenging.


More here: http://comicbook.com/2017/02/23/sherlock-mark-gatiss-season-5-show-ending/

Benedict Cumberbatch sports some heavy stubble as he films Sherlock Holmes scenes in a stark contrast to the character's usual clean shaven look

DAILY MAIL
By JJ NATTRASS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 06:25 EST, 1 June 2016 | UPDATED: 11:46 EST, 1 June 2016

He's busy filming the much-anticipated fourth series of the BBC's hit-series, Sherlock.

But Benedict Cumberbatch's roguish detective appeared to have lost his razor during his latest escapade, as the cast and crew of the detective drama filmed scenes in South Wales.

Shooting scenes in Cardiff City Centre, the 39-year-old actor sported a heavy layer of stubble as he filmed scenes alongside two elder gents - presumably integral to the plot of the episode.



Clad in full-costume, and sporting the character's well worn great coat, a navy shirt, dark trousers and black Oxford shoes, Holmes was instantly recognizable amide the hub-bub of cast and crew.

However, it seems that the latest shoot for the series sees Sherlock at his wit's end, as the appeared slightly weary and exhausted - something further emphasized by his loose stance and open-neck shirt.




In a statement, Steven and Mark said: 'Sherlock series four - here we go again!

'Whatever else we do, wherever we all go, all roads lead back to Baker Street - and it always feels like coming home.

'Ghosts of the past are rising in the lives of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson bringing adventure, romance and terror in their wake.

'This is the story we've been telling from the beginning. A story about to reach its climax.'
Benedict said he was 'thrilled' to be back as the detective.

He said: 'I can't wait for everyone to see season four. But you will have to wait... though not for long... And it will be worth it.'

Series four will return to BBC later this year with three feature length episodes.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3619671/Benedict-Cumberbatch-sports-heavy-stubble-Sherlock-Holmes-stark-contrast-character-s-usual-clean-shaven-look.html#ixzz4ANWmQg64 
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Benedict Cumberbatch in row with neighbours over plan for 'noisy' boiler room at new £2.7m Victorian home

THE TELEGRAPH
 Telegraph Reporters
26 MAY 2016 • 1:35PM

Benedict Cumberbatch, the Sherlock actor, faces a planning battle after concerns were raised over his plans to build a "noisy" boiler room at his new home.

The 39-year-old bought a five-bedroom villa in Camden, north London, for just over £2.7m last April - but did not move in.

Instead, the actor - who married opera director Sophie Hunter last year - got builders to put up hoardings around the Victorian property while he made plans to renovate the three-storey home.

He submitted plans to Camden Council for an attic conversion to add another bedroom - and also install a "plant room", with a water heater/boiler in it - at the front of his semi-detached home.



The Harrow-educated actor, who stars in The Jungle book and The Hobbit, also wants to build a rear extension to the property, but has promised not to cut down an established magnolia tree.

A sticking point, which has been raised by Camden Council - and neighbours - is the boiler room, which according to plans would be "installed in the front garden beneath the existing retaining wall".

The plans state the road "is a wide, tree-lined avenue with substantial detached, semi-detached and short terraces of mid to late Victorian and Edwardian villas.

"There is an established residential land use pattern across the area."

But the council report states that it might need to call for an "acoustic report" to find out if there are any "noise issues" related to the plant room in the front garden.





http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/26/benedict-cumberbatch-in-row-with-neighbours-over-plan-for-noisy/

Benedict Cumberbatch proves a superb villain in The Hollow Crown's Richard III

THE GUARDIAN
Michael Billington
@billicritic
Saturday 21 May 2016 18.10 EDT

 The camera is a close bosom friend … Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III. Photograph: Robert Viglasky/BBC/Carnival Film & Television Ltd


Richard III brings the BBC’s Hollow Crown cycle to a fine climax. It also confirms that Benedict Cumberbatch is a highly physical, as well as a natural Shakespearean, actor. Watching him wrestle his way into his clothes in the opening soliloquy, I was reminded of his superb performance as the creature in the National Theatre’s Frankenstein. On stage, we witnessed the tortured birth of a monster; here we see Richard acquiring a new identity as he gets laboriously dressed.



Cumberbatch starts with two great advantages. The previous episode enabled him to lay the ground for Richard’s throne-hungry mania. Like Olivier in the film of Richard III, he also uses the camera as a close bosom friend. Having wooed Phoebe Fox’s Lady Anne – an episode that here takes place in a forest glade – he confides to the camera, and thereby to us, his rasping astonishment at her pliability.

In fact, Cumberbatch takes us stage by stage through Richard’s systematic progress to power. The dominant image of the production is of Cumberbatch’s index finger tapping a chessboard, as he works out how to remove the pieces that stand between him and the crown. But it is a mark of Shakespeare’s progress that the dramatist also allows us to see inside Richard’s soul: Cumberbatch is especially good in the eve-of-battle soliloquy, where a character who might simply be a murdering monster pathetically realises “there is no creature loves me”.

Although Cumberbatch dominates the screen, this is far from a one-man show. Judi Dench brings all her clarity of speech and matchless sincerity to Richard’s mother, who views her son with undisguised horror: when she asks “What comfortable hour canst thou name / That ever graced me in thy company?” you totally believe her. Sophie Okonedo’s Queen Margaret stalks the action, right up to the climactic battle, like a vengeful ghost. Keeley Hawes turns Queen Elizabeth into a helpless pawn in Richard’s power games. Anyone who has seen the previous episodes will also understand – in a way that is tricky when the play is seen in isolation – just what the women are talking about when they catalogue Richard’s endless crimes.

READ MORE: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2016/may/21/benedict-cumberbatch-the-hollow-crown-richard-iii

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: A chilling end to The Hollow Crown, series two, review - 5 Stars

THE TELEGRAPH
 Serena Davies
21 MAY 2016 • 11:10PM

And so, the most famous actor of his generation finally got to wear “the hollow crown”. In all the fuss over the BBC’s 2016 series of Histories – Aunty does six hours of epic, difficult Shakespeare – one man’s shadow has loomed over it. Just as the logic of the plays’ increasingly savage narrative arc is to give birth to a figure of expansive evil in the twisted shape of Richard III, so that sense of culmination was echoed in the casting.

We were all waiting for Benedict Cumberbatch’s rule. He didn’t disappoint. The shaggy-locked malingerer he’d offered for part two – when there were still several family members between Richard and the throne – was mainly given to literally stabbing people in the back, and looking somewhat wild-eyed and hammy in the process. But Cumberbatch got a haircut for Richard III. He smartened up, sharpened up, and sliced into your head. Speaking his monologues to camera like Frank Underwood from House of Cards (Kevin Spacey indeed modelled his Underwood on Richard), this tyrant made you think like him even as you hated him.

One sequence stood out. Tap tap tap went the ring on Richard’s finger on his chessboard, its paranoid beat taking us to the Tower and to the killing he’d ordered of his nephews, the most dreadful of all the dreadful deaths across the plays. The muffled groans of child-murder were spliced with shots of the actor’s putty-like face, which reformed itself from pointed intent to flabby stupefaction at his own degeneracy - Cumberbatch had never done bad better. Tap tap tap. This was a Richard who knew he could never win, who recognised the horror of his sins even as he was remorseless. When he died in the mud at the end he was the most self-loathing of creatures, as well as loathed.



But anyone who watched Richard III alone, simply to revel in King Sherlock, was doing The Hollow Crown an injustice. The series had to be seen as a whole, the greatest achievement being that of director Dominic Cooke, an experienced theatre director but a first timer behind the camera. Cooke was working in a theatrical tradition - this tetralogy on the Wars of the Roses has been presented as three plays (the three Henry VIs combined into two) before, most famously by the RSC in 1963 and most recently by Trevor Nunn at the Rose Kingston in 2015. But Cooke understood the urgency to make the stories cinematic, to cut out the fug of reverence that might induce him to prettify scenes with their pretty language. Indeed he has gone out of his way to make his version of these four plays uglier than the originals.

Most of the deaths in Richard III happen off stage. Here we saw or at least heard the lot. The most bloodthirsty latter stages of Henry VI received truly horrific renderings in the middle film, in particular the three-way slaughter and crowning with thorns of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (Adrian Dunbar). And what use this graphic horror, this seeking out of violence? One answer, already much discussed, is a determination to make it appeal to the same audience that goes potty for Game of Thrones, the most popular TV series in the world.




TO READ MORE OF THIS REVIEW:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/05/21/a-chilling-end-to-the-hollow-crown-series-two-review/

Benedict Cumberbatch and his glamorous wife Sophie Hunter get dressed up for a romantic evening out at the opera

DAILY MAIL
By JJ NATTRASS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 06:29 EST, 12 May 2016 | UPDATED: 06:45 EST, 12 May 2016

They're never far from each other's side - despite his manic filming schedule.

So it was no surprise to see that Benedict Cumberbatch was using some time away from the set of Sherlock to treat his wife, Sophie Hunter, to a romantic date night.

Stepping out for an evening at the opera in London, held at the Barbican, the 39-year-old actor cut a dapper figure whilst the Theater director slipped into a demure and glamorous monochrome dress.



 Heading to a performance of Vincenzo Bellini's Adison e Salvini, the loved-up couple put on a very tender display - sticking close to each other.

Following the performance of the opera, which follows the fortunes of an Italian (Salvini) in Ireland, who falls in love with the eponymous Adelson’s fiancée Nelly, the couple left the arts centre hand-in-hand.

Another famous face: Benedict's Hollow Crown co-star Dame Judi Dench was also in attendance for the opera performed by the BBC's Symphony Orchestra

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3586645/Benedict-Cumberbatch-glamorous-wife-Sophie-Hunter-dressed-romantic-evening-opera.html#ixzz48UXflJlP 
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Benedict Cumberbatch talks shirtless Shakespeare in this week's Radio Times

RADIO TIMES
By Ellie Walker-Arnott
Monday 9 May 2016 at 7:00PM

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch is in this week's Radio Times magazine, discussing his latest project The Hollow Crown, which sees him play iconic Shakespeare villain Richard III.

The 39-year-old talks about the reasons he took on the tough role – "It has some of the most extraordinary, visceral, gut-punching language" – before going on to discuss the "extraordinary bit of serendipity" which led to him being present at the "burial of a king."

Find it all in this week's Radio Times, available in stores and on the
Apple Newsstand now.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-05-09/benedict-cumberbatch-talks-shirtless-shakespeare-in-this-weeks-radio-times