Benedict Cumberbatch may be working on two of Hollywood’s biggest film productions at the moment, in the shape of Star Trek and The Hobbit, but he’d still love Sherlock to become a sensation in the US. 

“I’m desperate for America to really take to this [Sherlock],” he said. “It has taken it into its heart as a cult thing, but I’d love it to hit the mainstream this time. Because I just think it’s of that quality, and it belongs there.”

Cumberbatch admitted that the detective show had opened up a new world of opportunities for him since it became such an explosive hit on BBC1 in 2011.  He also teased that he knows how Holmes, “a high-functioning sociopath”, survives in The Reichenbach Fall, the series two finale.

“You could stick a knife in my thigh, and I wouldn’t tell you,” he told the New York Times when asked for gossip on any of his projects. However, he did admit he has at least one weakness, adding: “Pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy. I have very sensitive follicles.”