BEST OF CUMBERBATCH IN SEASON 2

Sherlock is back and it is better than ever before!

The second season of the BBC One mini-series started with A Scandal in Belgravia, loosely based on A Scandal in Bohemia. It begins where the first season ended — a tense stand-off between James Moriarty (Andrew Scott), Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John Watson (Martin Freeman). The second 90-minute episode is a sci-fi version of The Hounds of Baskerville and the third, The Reichenbach Fall, is inspired by The Final Problem.

And if writers Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have written a wittier and cheekier script, the iPhone-toting consultant detective is sexier than ever.

t2 picks some of the best Cumberbatch moments of Season 2.

His disdain of the case of the lone hiker which he solves over video-conferencing because, he tells Watson, they had decided he wouldn’t leave home for a case less than seven (on 10) and this was clearly a six.

The introduction of the deerstalker when Sherlock uses it as a disguise from the press.

He is hilarious and petulant as he visits Buckingham Palace (under duress) in nothing but a bedsheet! We love it when Mycroft almost dis-bedsheets him.

The memorable first meeting with the woman Irene Adler (Lara Pulver). Sherlock, for once, is stunned into silence when he is “de-frocked” by a naked Adler.

John and Sherlock in The Hounds of Baskerville

When he tells Adler “... you cater to the whims of the pathetic and take your clothes off to make an impression. Stop boring me and think. It’s the new sexy”.... Gulp!

We, along with Irene Adler, are “Sher-locked” when he “barely talks and composes sad music” thinking Adler is dead. And our blood pressure shoots up when he tells Adler that he knows she cares because he took her pulse “elevated... pupils dilated”.

His indignant denial of Watson when he says that he tries to look all “mysterious with your cheekbones. And turning your coat collar up so you look cool”.

We love it that he tries to apologise to Watson for behaving like a sod and then does a miserable job of it in true Holmesian style.

It is not often that you see Sherlock Holmes trembling with fear but when he “sees” the hound for the first time you do, and boy does he look scared.

The John-lock moment (that is John and Sherlock pairing for the uninitiated) to beat most comes in the final episode when both are handcuffed together and Sherlock says “hold my hand”. John’s reaction? “Now people will definitely talk”... As if!

The last stand-off between Moriarty and Sherlock — bone-chilling! We love how Cumberbatch portrays Sherlock going through various emotions from exhilaration to disgust to despair.

Why we are Cumberbitches

For being Sherlock: His Holmes is modern and more informal (people refer to him as Sherlock, not Holmes). He is crazier, ruder, funnier and therefore more human. He’s made brainy the new sexy.

Sherlock at Buckingham Palace in a bedsheet

The voice: The baritone and the oh-so-perfect diction of the actor is eargasmic. Forget his reading of Ode to a Nightingale, Kubla Khan, Metamorphosis or even Little Red Hen, he makes women sit through 14 minutes of car commercials just thanks to his voice!

The looks: He thinks he resembles the racehorse Shergar or even Sid the sloth in Ice Age but we, the Cumberbitches, think that those razor-sharp cheekbones, unruly locks and intense eyes have incredible appeal. And those hands… poetry!

The fashion quotient: We love what he does to the regular muffler and, of course, the flowing overcoat, especially when coupled with his lumbering stride. And who can keep up with his changing hair colour? He has been everything from Gingerbatch to Brunettebatch to Blondbatch.

The versatility: He plays both the monster and the doctor in Frankenstein with aplomb on stage, he makes super-sleuth Sherlock the sexiest thing on television, he does radio shows and plays everything from a baddie to a sensitive spy in films. How much more versatile can you get?

The dance: A YouTube video (apparently hacked) showed Cumberbatch doing the famous Thriller step (real bad!) at a wedding party. We love a man who is not afraid to be silly.

The reaction to fan-fics: The fan-fictions may be about Sherlock and John (Dr Watson for the fuddy-duddies) but you know they have been written with Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in mind and most of them are rated NC-17 (that means very adult in common parlance). When asked about the fan-fics in an interview on MTV News, Cumberbatch said that “some of it is really racy” and that it was cool. “I suppose my bodily proportions are quite flattering. I’m ripped, doing something I wouldn’t normally do with my body, or having done to it, involving Watson... I was amazed at the level of artistry; people have spent hours doing it.” Ha!

Cumberbatch 5 facts

Born Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch to actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham on July 19, 1976. Studied at Harrow School before taking up drama in University of Manchester. Pursued drama training in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Sherlock wears the deerstalker

On TV, hit the limelight as Stephen Hawkings in Hawkings and won his first BAFTA nomination in 2004.

Became a star with his portrayal of Vincent van Gogh in Van Gogh: Painted with Words, and then of Sherlock Holmes in the BBC mini-series Sherlock.

Starred in Oscar-nominated films, Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and the John le Carré classic Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, in 2011. Will play Smaug the Dragon and voice the Necromancer in The Hobbit: There and Back Again and the villain in the Star Trek sequel by J.J. Abrams.

Was in a relationship with actress Olivia Poulet for 10 years. Dated designer Anna Jones. Now rumoured to be dating supermodel Lydia Hearst. We insist it’s just a rumour.

Chandreyee Chatterjee

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