Sorry about this ladies but...

[vienna1981]

...what is the big deal about Benedict Cumberbatch ? I genuinely don't understand. He seems to be everywhere recently and his engagement garnered a lot of publicity, as well as envy.

Is he a particularly gifted actor ? I'm vaguely aware of some Sherlock Holmes connection. To be blunt he isn't exactly blessed with matinee idol looks.

Standing by for replies and venom .

He's an amazing actor, and well I love him, I'm sure there a lot of people you fancy that we find wierd looking

Eatshit.

I didn't say that, I just think the descriptions are really awful.

It's just disappointing that people don't see him for the fab actor he is and see him as a 'goat', 'reptile', 'the predator' among others.

Wasp. He looks like a great big, pink wasp.

He looks delicious. Especially ginger.

Morelli, they don't see him as a goat, reptile or Predator, they just think he looks like them. And an otter. It's not the same thing.

None of that has any bearing on his acting ability.

I really didn't get it either until we started watching Sherlock a few weeks ago. He's very good at that role and was good in Star Trek too.

He seems to have a pull to him too, a natural charisma.

I like how he's one of a few public figures recently who just seems like a really likeable person IRL, doesn't take their life overly seriously but also comes across as quite intelligent too. Tom Hiddleston, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe also come to mind. I wish I had people like them to look up to when I was younger.(Though I did have Pink, and she's pretty awesome!)

lovely I'm with you on that. I know that George Clooney and Brad Pitt are very handsome, but I don't find myself overly attracted to them.

I like him best on Radio 4. Excellent in Cabin Pressure, brilliant in Young Rumpole, wonderful in Neverwhere.

It's the voice, not the looks for me.

Bedtime, its still insulting whether you see him as them or think he looks like them.

His acting is superb.

For me, it's the intelligence and the fact that he doesn't buy into his own publicity unlike some of the Hollywood slebs who clearly believe that they actually are fabulous and deserving of all the adulation. Reese Witherspoon, for example, with her "You're about to find out who I am" when she was arrested for disorderly conduct.

His loyalty to Cabin Pressure is admirable too - he could easily have dumped a low-profile little radio comedy once his career took off in the way that it did but he stuck with it. And I love the way that he relishes the role of the nerdy, unattractive, slightly incompetent character!

I don't find the Hollywood big hitters very attractive at all - I generally go for men with more personality.

Here you go: the inspiration for my MN name

With the gorgeously excellent Roger Allam as well - what's not to love?

Are you me?!
I posted a ranty rant about him on the dreaded FB yesterday. He's so smug and omnipresent. Doesn't anyone else need a job?
I heartily agree with you.

Oops. Wrong thread. Duh!

Nuff said.

YES!
Goat eyes! couldn't quite place them.

(But Sherlock was great)

So it seems the famous man with the most preposterous name on the planet is at least a half-decent actor and not a bad chap. Good job when he's no Rembrandt.

Thanks for sharing those Lumpy. Cor! Just....Cor :)

Are you all mad? He's gorgeous, funny, talented and he doesn't take himself too seriously.

The Imitation Game made me cry - which takes some doing, I'm not a cryer! Deserves an Oscar.

Here's something fun:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=MKMelx-7im0

Someone on either Chris Evans or Simon Mayo (I was listening to the radio in the car, either to or from work...) explained this. She said he looks like a grown up - as though he wouldn't ask you to do his washing. Definitely a major part of it. I do find his looks attractive, though, while recognising he isn't in any way classically handsome.

His face looks very odd in Sherlock. Maybe it's deliberate. But in my mind's eye, he has no eyebrows.

So his face gives me the heebie jeebies (the bad ones).

Can't really comment on his acting ability as I've seen one episode of Sherlock and nothing else with him but but he's reportedly a good actor.

With a slightly plastic face.

(because of course I have the perfect looks and awesome acting skills)

pixie two good points:

He was indeed very good in Star Trek, very sinister. So in fact I HAVE seen him act....

And yes, it's interesting how many people with real skill manage to stay out of the limelight and yet those with no real skill can't do enough to stay in the paper.

There's probably a name for this sliding scale of skill being inversely proportional to media whoring. The Big Brother Scale?

*inversely proportionate?

I'm just wondering what all your husbands/partners look like.....

My husband looks just like Mr Cumberbatch, so obviously I think that you are all completely wrong! HE IS GORGEOUS!

(You're all just a bunch of meanies)

He is a properly gifted actor - the first few minutes of ep 2 of Parade's End was amazing, and it was all just facial expression, no words. I really don't know why that production didn't get any awards, it was brilliant.

I've seen bother versions of the NT's Frankenstein and he was brilliant in both.

His voice is lovely.

He seems to not take himself too seriously - there's a thing on Youtube of him reciting rap lyrics which is hot and funny at the same time.

Personally I love him, partly because I like his looks, but also because I find his talent very attractive.

And he has a very beautiful mouth!

Thank goodness someone said it! I say it out loud every time he turns up in my bloody feed and my DH asked me the same thing after noticing the big uh ah about his engagement. I can't judge him in terms of talent because I am not familiar with his work, but I agree with those who mentioned snake-like features. He definitely doesn't do it for me, now Gerald Butler...

He is a great actor IMO. And there is just something about him.