Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman ‘won’t quit show despite their fame’

 
7 March 2014
The Weekender

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Sherlock co-writer Mark Gatiss believes that its stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman will never turn their backs on the show, no matter how successful they become.

The screenwriter and actor also said the only obstacle to a new League Of Gentlemen project is the BBC.

The two Sherlock lead stars, who play Holmes and Dr Watson in the hit BBC series, have found themselves catapulted into international stardom.

Cumberbatch was the villain in the latest Star Trek movie and was in the Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave, while Freeman landed the star role in The Hobbit. But Gatiss, 47, insists that the actors will never be swayed by fame or money and all that is holding up the next series is clashing diaries.

He told the Standard: “The will with those two is very much there. It’s just inconvenient that the actors we cast have gone on to become two of the most successful in the world, so it is difficult to get everyone back together, especially as my co-writer Steven Moffat and I are very busy too.”

Gatiss spoke as he attended last night’s 40th birthday gala of the support charity London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard at the Waldorf Hilton in Covent Garden, where guests included Pixie Lott and Myleene Klass.

He said he and his fellow League Of Gentlemen members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton were thrilled by their recent reunion for a one-off charity event in London. Gatiss said: “It was brilliant and very touching.

“We had an incredible response. You could see our old tour manager’s eyes turning into pound signs. We never split up like Abba and would love to do something.

“But until BBC2’s controller — whoever that is, there isn’t one right now — or BBC1 ask, it won’t happen.”

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