A Tortured Soul

Benedict Cumberbatch on his most harrowing role yet.

- Richard Mcclure

From Sherlock Holmes and Alan Turing to Hamlet and Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch has won acclaim the world over for a host of brilliant performances.

Now, he’s set to wow us once more as the damaged, drug-addicted aristocrat Patrick Melrose in the Sky Atlantic drama of the same name. 

Based on Edward St Aubyn’s semi-autobiographical novels, the show’s five episodes span different stages in Patrick’s troubled life as he struggles to overcome his horrifying childhood during which he was repeatedly raped by his father from the age of five.

In this week’s opener, we first meet Patrick in 1982 when he hears that his father David (Hugo Weaving) has died and travels to New York to collect the ashes – only to become suicidal after taking a cocktail of hard drugs.

Among the all-star cast is Jennifer Jason Leigh as Patrick’s American mother Eleanor, Anna Madeley who plays his wife Mary, and Jessica Raine as his on-off lover Julia.

We met up with Cumberbatch, 41, to hear more about his disturbing new role…

How would you describe Patrick?