“I’m always cast as sort of slightly wan, ethereal, troubled intellectuals or physically ambivalent bad lovers,” he had told me, when we met just before series two of Sherlock. “I’m here to tell you I’m quite the opposite in real life. I’m a fucking fantastic lover! I’m a man of the world - and yes, I like to have a bit of adventure in my life.”

— Benedict Cumberbatch, May 2011