Is Sherlock Good In Bed? Benedict Cumberbatch Has The Answer!

Benedict Cumberbatch has opened up about sex, Sherlock and settling down in a candid interview with ELLE UK magazine.

The Imitation Game actor, who graces the front cover of the December issue of the publication, was asked by the mag whether he thinks his alter-ego Sherlock would be good in bed, to which he replied: "He’s asexual for a purpose. 

"Not because he doesn’t have a sex drive, but because it’s suppressed to do his work. Cold showers, looking at a lot of dead bodies… that’ll do it for you.”

As for how he would play a sex scene as Sherlock, Benedict said: "I’d probably test the latex, if it involved prophylactics, beforehand. I’d do a little experiment to do with durability, length, girth, and um, strength. And um, I would probably take a lot of vitamin supplements to make sure that I could perform, and had had my sleep, and probably not had many cigarettes. Or drink, for that matter. Not that he does drink.

"I would probably watch a lot of porn... I might have to shave, um, areas to fit in with a modern idea of bodily hair. And then I would be devastating. I’d know exactly how to please a woman, I’d know exactly where to put my fingers, where to put my tongue, where to put my – his I should say – his fingers, his tongue. Think about violinists, think about what they can do with their fingers."

He added: "And I’d know exactly how to get that person into it, and get pleasure out of making that person feel pleasure to the point that I probably wouldn’t even have to enter… But when I did it would be explosive."

Speaking of living his own private life in the showbiz spotlight, Cumberbatch said: "It’s a really double-edged sword. You know, you discover why people find you attractive – in a relationship or a tryst – and if it’s just to have a go on you or try you out, then I can smell that a mile off.”

On his hopes for the future, settling down and possibly starting a family, the 38-year old confessed: "I can imagine I’ll look back at this point in my life and think: ‘Wow that was really extraordinary.’ But at the same time I hope I’m looking back and going 'Oh, that was the moment I got on with life and realised things beyond myself.' 

"Without using words like 'marriage', 'children' and 'family' - although I have just used those words – put it this way: I hope I’ve got other people to look back with me at that point. I hope I’m surrounded by family.”

Full interview appears in the December issue of ELLE UK, on sale 30th October. Also available as a digital edition.

Photos: © Mark Horn / ELLE UK