All the Cumberb*tches out there should prepare themselves,because Benedict Cumberbatch is set to star in and executive produce the limited series Melrose for Showtime. The series, which will be broken into five parts, is an adaptation of Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose series of novels. It will be written by BAFTA-nominee David Nicholls, and is still searching for a director to helm all of the episodes.
For those unfamiliar, the Patrick Melrose series is a best-selling group of books that centers around an upper-class English family and their laundry list of issues. Said issues consist of tragic deaths, alcoholism, drug addition, and other standard prestige television fare. What’s a British miniseries adaptation without marital issues and family strife? The five-book collection was republished as a complete single volume in 2012, so based on that reissuing and this upcoming adaptation there is a big chance that these bestsellers are about to gain an entirely new fanbase in the next few years.
This news probably won’t be music to Sherlock fans’ ears though, as Cumberbatch already has enough commitments that another series of the hit BBC show is already extremely unlikely. Never say never, but putting an executive producing and starring gig on his plate in addition to existing Doctor Strange commitments and other projects in-the-works means that Season 5 of Sherlock almost certainly isn’t happening within the next few years.
While it may seem like standard British fare, and therefore something that any reasonably talented British actor could pull off, the novels analyze wealth and family dynamics in incisive ways and as such could be yet another period vehicle for Cumberbatch to use a combination of both his Britishness and considerable talents to elevate the material to even greater heights.
