Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Andrew Scott & More on Sherlock

I think disciplines really important you know in a sense it's a bit like to be like the army without the killing the army without the actual life and death bit I've really believe in the there's because there is something about the subjugation of your own ego which is undeniable we clearly got an ego otherwise we wouldn't be doing acting that is just a fact but it's important to learn to to subject back to the story or to subject that to the group I think is important turn up on time be respectful know your lines you know I mean all that stuff it a lot of it is um not very glamorous you know I mean those things are not too glamorous they're actually I like to doing sort of applied to to my new vocation as a teenager I come to know this this is homework I loved Steve Moffat always says that the true pressure comes with you have a failure and that's not very nice so there's certainly not a pressure in terms of having this global worldwide phenomenon because that's what it is it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing all of us have had separate successes but Sherlock's just one of those things it's just everything just clicked the timing and the casting and the writing just one of those things and you know you just have to go well there we are and if you could bottle it you would do it again but you can't manufacture these things it's certainly not a pressure in that winds and it's certainly not in terms of fan expectation because the truth is we have an extraordinary active vocal fan base but the the people who just tuned in every two years on January the first are people who just go oh sure logs back on and they like it or they don't and that's that's the truth so you can't you can't let that into your head because it'll start to you know it starts to actually change the course of what you're trying to do and we're really just still making it for ourselves it is daunting working on a series like Sherlock yes it's it's quite overwhelming because the fan base is so strong and so protective and so fiercely protective of it if you don't do it to the best of your ability you kind of feel like you're letting everybody on I don't want to let any of these fans down because they are invested in it it's a really nice feeling knowing that there is that love and that Walt for all these characters and they love they do genuinely love them and and know everything about them which is astonishing really well the role of Mary came to me in Mark Gatiss his kitchen and we just watched the hounds of Baskerville and they were talking about the third series and I saw was sitting in listening to it and thinking this sounds quite interesting and then they came to the they said well look we're gonna in we're gonna introduce Mary Morstan that sounds great you know it's brilliant and they said what do you think and I was thinking well I think Nicola Walker would be amazing for that and I think you know I was thinking all these people that could play her and they said no no we'd like you to do it and I kind of went oh really Wow and I kind of got a bit upset like emotional because I'm always verging they said no we would like you to you to play it what do you think and I said yeah yeah I'll do that that's fine there is a family atmosphere on the set we all get on really well it's a hard shoot because it's a thick script is a lot of stuff to do in it and you have to be on top of your lines and you have to be on top of your day so the fact that we all get on it helps with the day-to-day running of the scenes and getting through them the only way a writer ever get started is by writing I mean it's seriously the only thing you actually do and it's the single biggest thing you ever do it's the big part of the job whatever else you're doing exact but using new whatever it's it's all about the writing so how I got started with writing and sending in script until somebody said yes now there's a specific story to how I got there but which is about press-gang and all that but which you stood with my dad doing a an episode of high wave hurry sequencing the highway at my dad's school and my dad proposed an idea for children television series were about a junior newspaper and and the views that he liked it so he said I will do this on the on the condition that my son is allowed to write a sample script and but you said there is absolutely no way we will use his script but we will read it so they were the read my sample script liked it very much and actually ended up writing that series trouble with telling that story they're really serious trouble turn that so he's people think that's how it works it's not how it works that was when I go lucky everyone's gonna get lucky what you have to be able to do is do something with it when you do get lucky so how you get started as a writer is you write all day every day because if you're gonna be a writer that's what you're gonna do anyway the thing you saw I think hindered researching in Sherlock is is how to kill people I sometimes think if you're you know search engine was checked it might police might come round I did a couple of dramas before I did Sherlock which I suppose in a way was the thing where I was more recognized for one of them was the hour with Ben Whishaw and Adam West and Ramallah and I was at the time frustrated a little bit because I felt like I wanted to to play to play bigger stuff um but I also really more than anything I've always felt that you learn from what the other actors it did it helped it helps in your casting that if you if you can if you can surround yourself or try and work with attempt to even the kind of people that you admire whether you're getting glory for it or not or whether you're playing a really small part or not for me that's much more valuable than playing the lead and some terrible TV series where actually I feel about my closed doors for you rather than opening them for you I think that's that was a turning point in us and stuff that of doing good work good work leads to opportunity and I suppose my opportunity or a big break or what people might describe as a big break came actually as a result of making decisions that put you in this same thought space I suppose there's people who are really good at their job and acting with other good people makes it better this is not-- elevators it is different if you've written it because obviously I'm a for instance finish line is seen playing Mycroft and I've written the words the actors will ask me questions and I consult though you have to say like this huh or indeed is this more off the case oh no you can change it you know so it's quite a useful place to be well I think I was a bit inspired inspired by Doctor Who but that's a pretty banal answer because I ended up running it comes as an book for maasai that was a huge inspiration but again that's pretty obvious to be honest I don't think in those terms I think anything that you do try and do something says he sure like you do don't try and do something new you try not to mimic that's something else Sherlock Holmes which has probably been been made into more plays and I'm sorry more shows or films and just about anything yeah it's the most remote of fictional home time I think I mean so - somebody says let's let's do it again we're gonna update it from the 21st century you know was it immediately clear to you that this was something that was uh that was worth getting involved with or when did it become clear to you that it would work well the Saudi evolution was that I heard about it and thought oh that sounds like excuse to you know Rhian franchise something to make money it could be a bit cheap and cheesy and then I found out who was involved I thought it's definitely not gonna be cheap and cheesy these guys are very good writers on you Steven my mom had done coupling a few episodes of that Sara Alexander's mum and Mark Gatiss was a huge hero of mine as a student with League of Gentlemen and I decide you this table was good and I knew their involvement in who and I knew what they'd done with that and I thought well I got to read it and I read and I completely fell in love with it and then I went to meet them in in a in a flat in Holland Park I'm su virtues mother they're all virtue once su virtue is called Beryl virtues daughter but now I think is er around she's so strong but they're both extraordinary a barrel there's a massive time in the industry I'm sure she's done many of these conversations she's she's a legend a legend and I didn't but I I don't think I'd ever met her before so she she came in it was her flat I wasn't aware of that I knew I was being sue mark and stephen and to read for it and think one of the things I did was definitely the one in the first episode where I get John to come back to the flat and I've got I just want him to type a text for me and I'm sort of reposed with the steeple hands and and he's just disgusted that I've said it's urgent important can you make it and he just comes over and basically as a secretary for me within the study of studying pink and and so hosting the scene I don't know just before I remember barrel coming and she had tea and biscuits and I sort of turned to sue and I went is that mrs. Hanson and she went no that's my mother okay it's an or good start not the good start talking forget that happened forget that happened start again cancel and continue and I did a guy I know I made them laugh a bit and it seemed to go well and you know I knew mark Kerr as well there's an actor we were in startup at and together we really got on so it was fun it was a lot of fun and I thought this could be great I would really enjoy doing this just as I was getting on my scooter I got a call from a judge saying they're really really really really really really keen for you to do this and I put my helmet on but finish the conversation first otherwise that would've been painful and I said Christ this could be really exposing and in a good way but I thought this is really this is a very iconic character and whether it's good bad or indifferent there's gonna be a lot of focus on it as there always is with any incarnation of the great great consulting detective so I took a bit of a deep breath and I thought I do I want to do this is this the moment to do that because I kind of mean I've been other things hovering around that I might have pursued or might have done and I just went no no I I kind of wanted carry on doing the work I'm doing which is there it's getting recognition but it's you know it's just it's leading to the next job to the next job and that I was fine with that I thought this is a really big sort of step into the limelight and then I thought it's really good material I can have fun doing it we did the pilot it was great the BBC loved it said one and a half hours and then that was it and as far as the the reach of this I mean I've read estimates they initially thought maybe two or three million people are gonna watch this it was like the they weren't it blew away from almost the beginning expectations as far as how many people cared about what you were doing was that was that very gratifying to see we were all around at Hsu and Stevens and we watched it I try to remember if I don't think I don't think Martin was there that something he was doing a job but we all watched it and I I was really aware of this immediate audience response i I don't engage with social media i I have done a reddit but that's that was it and I really enjoyed it but thought the reasons we could talk about in a minute that would take over my life and probably ruin it but um I was just amazed at how vocal and immediate this response was and it was it was pretty good it was all very good and by and large I think I mean they didn't really the bad tweets and these tweeting and blogging and just everything just came alive there was that and that's very rare to have a live experience with an audience when it's television program it's it was a new experience for me and I was literally half expecting to sort of you know walk you know outside to get the train back from queuing and just and see like banks of photographers or for news reporters to be abseiling from helicopters dagger what does it like to be a new hero and thank God that moment was delayed but um it was very overwhelming in a weirdly distancing kind of or distanced kind of way because obviously it wasn't in person but we were very aware of it being a bit of a hit yeah [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: BAFTA Guru

Views: 25,394

Rating: 4.9228072 out of 5

Keywords: BAFTA, BAFTA Guru, British Academy Of Film And Television Arts (Award Presenting Organization), creative, career, film making, TV, gaming, actor, advice, movie, movies, movie making, sherlock, sherlock holmes, sherlock series, tv series, martin freeman, mark gatiss, steven moffat, sue vertue, amanda abbington, andrew scott, benedict cumberbatch, the hobbit, moriarty, dr watson, crime series, martin freeman interview, benedict cumberbatch interview, sherlock behind the scenes

Id: m5wpJGdMLU0

Length: 12min 29sec (749 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 11 2018