Benedict Cumberbatch Is The Ultimate Photobomber

You haven't won an Oscar yet, but last year you were part of the Oscar-winning film. Yeah, I was, which was an amazing honour. That night is so extraordinary in itself, but to sort of crown it all with that was very special. And for such an extraordinary film, it was amazing. And great to kind of get up on stage at the end. Yes, absolutely. Me too, I'm in it! Exactly. I'm glad I did my photobomb earlier on rather than then. This is the weird thing. How overexcited was Benedict Cumberbatch to be that at the beginning of the evening he did this? I was very overexcited, because that's a very high jump. I thought you were standing on something, but it's a jump. Several publicists, yeah. I took a running human leapfrog at it. Well, Ellen, who was hosting, Ellen DeGeneres, I thought did a fantastic job. She started it by oiling everyone on the red carpet with vodka. So her show was handing out, whilst they were interviewing us, these little miniatures of vodka. And it's a nerve-wracking event. It's the Oscars, for heaven's sake. So, yeah, I was emboldened by booze, a little bit like Timothy was in his acceptance speech. Did they know you were doing a Kenneth Williams impersonation? Hey, listen, word on the street is you may well be heading back to Oscar land because of your stand-up performance as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. Now, it's... Yes, yes, whoop it. That's the producer. No, listen, talk about Alan Turing. You don't know he's the guy who broke the German Enigma code and helped the Allies to victory. I think he's a national icon and a hero. I think he should be on the back of banknotes. He should be on school textbooks, you know, science books, as well as history books. An extraordinary man. And this extraordinary group of people that Alan's in charge of, they solved this unsolvable riddle puzzle, this codification of all the messages that went between German high command and the troops or the army or the navy or the air force, you know, were codified, obviously. And anyone could pick them up, anyone could hear them on a radio, but couldn't translate what they meant. And these people, they were scientists, they were mathematicians, they were physicists, the kind of brains you think would be able to think laterally and scientifically about the problem. But also artists and musicians and actors, so it was a wide, huge net of brainiacs, of these extraordinary minds thinking laterally to solve this problem. And so it focuses a lot on that. And then either side, you learn about Alan's story, which is... Yes. The top and the tail, the beginning and the end are not happy times. I mean, after this incredible success in the war. Well, he was appallingly served by our government, our culture, our nation at the time. He was prosecuted in the 50s for being homosexual and given the choice between state sanctions, castration through oestrogen injections, or two years imprisonment. And he chose the castration because he wanted to carry on his work. But, you know, the way you learn about him, the way the film explores him, it's very funny. It is very funny at times, as well as being really shocking and moving and thrilling. Now, we get so many messages and tweets and emails... Right. ..from your... Now, they're not Cumbers...any more, are they? They change name every time I'm on. OK. So what are they now? Cumbers. Cumbers? I don't know. I'm making it up. I don't know any more. Do you know what you are? Cumber People Collective. Cumber People. Bunches, brands, babes... It's like they're not a group any more. No. I think there's definitely some splintering going on. There's a lot of splintering. OK, so there's a bunch of questions that I'm contractually obliged to ask you. Sorry about that. They will go nuts if I don't. So, obviously, when will we see more Sherlock? Er, 2015, I think, yeah. OK, are you in the next Star Trek? No comment. OK. Are you in the new... What did she...? Are you in the new Star Wars movie? No comment. No, of course I'm not. I heard a rumour you were seen around the set. I did go to set, which was fantastic. It was like walking through my childhood and Harrison, whose place I am honoured enough to be in on the sofa, it was... Yeah, he wasn't there. The point is, I walked to the Millennium Fork and I sat down. I mean, it was incredible. You're not a Stormtrooper, is it? I shouldn't be saying this. I probably shouldn't be saying this on television. It's a secret. Don't tell anyone. We know when that did it, cos it fell on his foot. That's right. That's already been spoiled. But did you not ask to be a Stormtrooper or something? No comment. Are you a Stormtrooper? Are you? Are you at the back of one of those people? Unbelievable. No comment. This is going to go... Get back on Troopers, we'll just leave you alone like that. Actually, last time, as you say, you were here with Harrison Ford before, you did an incredible Chewbacca, but I'm told you also do a Jar Jar Binks. Oh, no, it's a Binks-master. You don't make much money out of doing a good Jar Jar, let me tell you that. The most enthroned character of any franchise ever. Rightfully so, in my opinion. And Svante Dragan is back. He is, yeah. Griswold. Finish business. I read that as a voice, but there isn't... I mean, obviously, it's put through treatment and things, but actually, it sounds very like what you did. Oh, God. Do you want me to do that as well? If you can. So, Miranda... Oh, my God! ..is your heart beating faster... LAUGHTER ..or slower than before? Oh, my God! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE I don't know whether it was aroused or terrified. It's arousing and terrifying in equal measure. I'm very confused right now. I can't... It wasn't aroused. I'm confused. We went round like that. We went towards the heart. Yeah, I know. Not on television. Does that hurt? No, but I feel quite faint. So do I. Stop. But explain this, explain this, Benedict Cumberbatch. This is odd. Of all the questions we had... Yeah. ..the one that came up most often was... Oh, God. ..ask Benedict to say the word penguin. LAUGHTER What is this about? Well, apparently, I got it wrong repeatedly in a documentary. It wasn't a documentary about said animal. It was a documentary about... I think about the South Pacific in general. And now I'm completely terrified of the word. I don't go near it. No, because I know... Here's the thing. I thought, oh, I'm sure they're making it up, but we actually looked at this documentary. Oh, good. So the documentary is called... The documentary is called Strange Islands. The first one, you sort of get away with, and then after that, you lose all sense of what it is. Let's have a look. Listen carefully. And the last thing you might expect to see here... ..is penguins. These are Fjordland crested penguins, named after this corner of South New Zealand. So why are these woodlands so attractive to penguins? A freshwater stream through the forest makes a handy highway for a parent penguin heading home from a fishing trip. The funny thing is, you don't do this in isolation. You have a team of, you know, natural history experts based in Bristol, funded by you, the taxpaying public. It's not just me sitting there at a booth going, I think I know how to say penguin, I'll say penguins. It's mortifying, but there are other people who should take some flak, including my producer. You in a booth with a bottle of vodka, clearly. But did no-one at the end of the thing, could we just try the word penguin again? Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe they just gave up. I honestly don't know. But then what I love is, in the way that life is, how special that Benedict is now starring... Oh, yeah. ..as a wolf in this film. So can you say it now? Well, I've had a word with Disney. I just need to check that I have said it correctly in the film. Penguin. Penguin. Penguin. Penguin! The sense of achievement. Benedict, do you have anything to offer Miranda as plot lines, or have you been in a similar...? I've been in... I mean, my whole life is sort of stepping between trying to be gracious and embarrassing myself, it seems. I don't know. Well, I presented... Last year, I presented this thing called the Loris Awards, which is like the Oscars, but for sports. And, you know, I was meeting some icons of sport. Yeah. Formula One racing car drivers, tennis players and swimmers, including Missy Franklin, the amazing American female swimmer. And she, you know... She's, what, 18? I mean, she's so young. It's incredible, you've achieved so much, and I feel like I'm double your age. I mean, it's incredible, just listening to all of your achievements. I'm just... And she was sat right next to her parents as well. I said, you know, I'm sitting here and I'm just getting stiff, even listening to you. I didn't have that moment, I didn't have that pause, but I heard behind me, I heard a friend of mine, Julian, who was in the audience, laugh. Literally, like a sort of volley, going... Like that. And then at the party afterwards, I went up to her and went, I'm so sorry, and she went, what about? And then I had to explain... With apologies, we have to go, I wasn't stiff at all. Talking of art, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for Benedict Cumberbatch to meet Benedict Cumberwax. Now, this is Madame Tussauds... What are they called? A wax figure. They're not wax figures, they're wax figures. And you haven't met it yet, right? So come with me. Come over here. Everyone come over and have a look. So this is going to be spooky. So come down here. You all set? Yeah. Here is Benedict Cumberbatch. Feast your eyes on you. That is weird! No, it looks so like you. It's spooky. Look at the back of the head and everything. He's tired, he even looks as tired as I feel. Shall I stand? Oh, yeah, do it, do it. Oh, my God. Yeah, nice, nice. That's very good. We all come in and have a picture taken with this, right? You can photobomb us from behind. Come on. Let's take a run-up. Ready? OK. Camera over there somewhere. Ready? OK, one, two, three. That's better than the one... I went to a waxworks once in Great Yarmouth, it's no longer there. And it had one of... It was supposed to be Michael Jackson, but it was about this big. And I think it used to be Sammy Davis Jr. I put a different wig on him and put his underpants on outside his trousers. I said hi to that backstage. Did you? You got confused. What was I saying? You thought, he's so standoffish. He's changed. I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not. But then my make-up artist went, why is Benedict Cumberbatch just staring? What's he staring at? I'm not joking.