Actor Benedict Cumberbatch worked in South Africa before his legendary appearance as Sherlock Holmes in the miniseries called To the Ends of the Earth. He found himself in real danger when he and his friends were kidnapped.
Benedict Cumberbatch was kidnapped in South Africa in 2004
Benedict Cumberbatch has told the story many times over the years, including in a 2012 interview with the Daily Star (via The Telegraph). In it, the Sherlock and Doctor Strange star reported that he Fear of death had when the kidnapping happened in 2004.
After a scuba diving trip in Santa Lucia, South Africa, the actor was on the way back to the hotel with his fellow actors Denise Black and Theo Landey.
A burst tire forced Cumberbatch and his companions to stop. At that moment they were surprised by a gang of six men. According to Cumberbatch’s statement, they searched them for drugs, money and weapons forced She then got into the car.
The actor described what happened as follows:
I could see the headlights moving across the dirt road and thought of shallow graves. At the end of the night I was tied up next to Denise.
More about the star:
Cumberbatch persuaded the kidnappers
The gang then stopped the car and forced the future Sherlock star to get into the trunk. He then tried to convince her to let him out:
But I fought my way out. I said, ‘If you leave me in here, it’s not because of the lack of air, but because of the narrow space. There is a problem with my heart and my brain.’
Cumberbatch was very direct in the face of the threatening situation:
I tried to explain it to them:’I will die, maybe have a seizure, and that will be a problem for you. I’ll be a dead Englishman in your car. This is not good.’
Apparently, the actor was able to convince his captors to change the original plan. He was allowed to get out of the trunk again. The whole thing lasted two and a half hours, as he later revealed to the Guardian. Finally, Benedict Cumberbatch summarized the experience:
It taught me that you come into the world the way you leave it, on your own. It made me want to live a little less ordinary life.Both he and his colleagues Denise Black and Theo Landey survived the situation uninjured and were finally able to return.