Benedict Cumberbatch calls Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman "pathetic" after his reaction to fans
Benedict Cumberbatch has labelled his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman as "pathetic", after the latter said he no longer enjoyed filming the hit TV show due to the fans' reactions.
Freeman, 46, claimed earlier this year that being on the show, in which he plays Sherlock Holmes' trusty sidekick Watson, had become a "mini Beatles thing", and claimed that some of the fan reactions were not a thing to be enjoyed."
Responding to the comment, Cumberbatch, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, said: "It’s pretty pathetic if that’s all it takes to let you not want to take grip of your reality. What, because of expectations? I don’t know. I don’t necessarily agree with that.”
According to The Sun, tensions between the two stars have been rising for a while.
A source told The Sun in January last year: “Benedict and Martin aren’t mates and they don’t spend time together away from the show.
‘They’re professional and very polite to each other but there’s not the warmth you’d expect after filming together for six years.
“There isn’t a huge desire to come back for another season.”
However, speaking on Graham Norton's Radio 2 show, the show's co-creator, Steven Moffat said: “We all love our show. And we’d love to come back and do a future show some day. We’re not doing it right now. I have done nothing but Doctor Who and Sherlock for around 10 years, so I’ve got to be allowed to do something else.”
He added: “Benedict is very keen to play it again. At some point, it’ll come back.”
But for Sherlock fans, Season 5 may be a few years away. The show's co-creator Mark Gatiss has predicted a longer break while he and Moffat work on a Dracula TV series.
“We’re not going to do Sherlock whilst we’re doing Dracula,” he told RadioTimes.com earlier this year. “So it’s not going to happen in the immediate future. Never say never, but no – we don’t have an idea [right now].”