TV
years” of therapy. (Also: “Being
on Quaaludes is quite hard.”)
In keeping with Patrick’s
unpredictability,Melrosecan veer
dramatically in tone from scene
to scene; between devastating
explorations of Patrick’s trauma
are bitingly bleak streaks of
humor. Intrinsic to Cumberbatch’s
portrayal is a dark wit and a
palpable empathy. “You see Bene-
dict, and then in a snap of your
fingers there’s Patrick,” gushes
Allison Williams, who plays the
aforementioned flirty friend,
Marianne. “And there is a vacancy
there—it’s really remarkable to
watch. My mental image of Pat-
rick will never not be Benedict.”
Through the series’ five hours,
Patrick goes on a journey of self-
discovery, searching for his iden-
tity as he struggles to heal from
immense psychological damage.
For now, Cumberbatch is left to
play another wrenching, draining
scene—well aware that “there’s
still a lot to come.” Patrick’s dinner
with Marianne goes sour; she
leaves, angry, and he chases after
her. But she’s gone. The scene
ends on Patrick, alone in an alley-
way, vomiting, the drugs and
booze catching up to him—and
his father’s ashes still in hand.
Cumberbatch sums up the
scene appropriately—and grimly:
“It was never going to end well.”Reporting by Simon PerryTALK ABOUT A MOMENT BEFORE.
It’s a cold December day in
London, and Benedict Cumber-
batch is about to shoot a dinner
scene with hisPatrick Melrose
costar Allison Williams. But by
the time Cumberbatch’s titular
character is ready to sit down for
a flirty dinner with his girlfriend’s
best friend (yep!), he’s already
taken a few doses of heroin,
carried his father’s ashes around
in a plastic bag, and drunkenly
collapsed in a bathroom. He’s
a complete mess—exactly what
Cumberbatch signed up for.
Based on Edward St. Aubyn’s
series of eponymous novels,
this five-part Showtime series
traces the downward spiral of
an upper-class Englishman who
is reeling from the sexual abuse
he experienced as a child. It’s a
role Cumberbatch, 41, chased
with ferocity. “You’re asked toempathize with a man doing
some pretty awful things
because you want him to do
better,” the actor explains back
in his trailer, comparing Patrick’s
“good man goes wrong” journey
toBreaking Bad.“It’savery
subtle but profound shift, from
self-annihilation and narcissism
to a world where he is sincere,
loving, and open.”
Cumberbatch is a huge fan
of St. Aubyn’s books and spent
more than four years developing
this adaptation with producer
Michael Jackson. (Cumberbatch
is credited as an executive pro-
ducer.) The actor says the team
behindMelroseis dedicated to
honoring the original material’s
brutal takes on family and class—
a sort of reverseDownton Abbey,
an “upturning of expectations”—
and Cumberbatch wants to
plumb the same depths asBenedict Cumberbatch
Is in aMelrose Place
The actor and his costar Allison Williams take EW behind the scenes of Showtime’s new
limited seriesPatrick Melrose (May 12 at 9 p.m.).BY DAVID CANFIELDPatrick in order “to do him jus-
tice.” But the Academy Award
nominee admits playing such a
broken, self-destructive charac-
ter takes a toll. “Containing the
core of what drives this charac-
ter—it’s hard to go there,” he
says, adding that playing Patrick
could very well require “a few Allison Williams with CumberbatchCUMBERBATCH: OLLIE UPTON/SHOWTIME; WILLIAMS & CUMBERBATCH: JUSTIN DOWNING/SHOWTIME