We’ve had a glimpse of him filming in Glasgow, but now we’ve got a close-up of Benedict Cumberbatch as Patrick Melrose.
The first look photo comes courtesy of Sky Atlantic and Showtime, who are working together to bring Edward St. Aubyn‘s influential Patrick Melrose novels to the small screen in 2018.
It shows the Sherlock star as the eponymous lead character, cigarette in hand and wearing sunglasses indoors, looking every inch the aristocratic playboy.
The series is made up of five hour-long episodes, written by author and screenwriter David Nicholls, who famously penned 2011’s best-seller One Day and 2003’s Starter for Ten, which was later turned into a movie starring Benedict as a dedicated TV quiz contestant.
Each installment of the upcoming drama is an adaptation of a novel that tells the story of St. Aubyn’s own life growing up in a highly dysfunctional upper-class English family, and dealing with the deaths of both parents, alcoholism, heroin addiction and recovery, followed by marriage and parenthood.
Starring alongside Benedict are Lord of the Rings‘ Hugo Weaving, who plays Patrick’s father, The Hateful Eight‘s Jennifer Jason Leigh as his mother, Mr. Selfridge‘s Anna Madeley as his wife, Get Out‘s Allison Williams as an acquaintance and Blythe Danner as Nancy, his wealthy Park Avenue aunt.
Melrose is expected to air on Showtime some time in 2018.
Are you looking forward to this series?