Following on from some set photos which saw the actor filming on the streets of Scotland while donning an eye patch, Sky Atlantic and Showtime have unveiled the first official image of Benedict Cumberbatch in Patrick Melrose, his latest TV project. The Sherlock star is looking dapper as the titular protagonist, decked out in sunglasses, a fashionable scarf and coat and a cigarette in hand.
For those unfamiliar with the project, Patrick Melrose is a five-part series based on the semi-autobiographical novels of Edward St. Aubyn, which follow his dysfunctional upbringing as part of an upper-class English family and his later alcohol and heroin addictions, as well as his loves and losses. The character of Melrose has been described as “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.”
For more, here’s the official plot synopsis:
“The limited series will be a true television saga, both gripping and humorous from Nicholls’ adaptation, with a dramatic sweep that encompasses the South of France in the 1960s, New York in the 1980s and Britain in the early 2000’s.”
There are five books in the series, with each episode of the TV show encompassing one of them. The project will be written by David Nicholls (Bridget Jones’ Baby) and directed by Edward Berger and alongside Cumberbatch, Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) will co-star as Melrose’s parents, while Anna Madeley (The Crown) will portray his wife. Allison Williams and Blythe Danner also have roles.
Patrick Melrose is expected to arrive on our screens sometime next year. If you need your Cumber-fix sooner rather than later, though, you can still catch him as Stephen Strange in Thor: Ragnarok, which is currently in cinemas.