Lara Pulver has ruled out a Sherlock return and revealed she almost reunited with Benedict Cumberbatch for another television project.

The actress, who played Irene Adler opposite Cumberbatch in the BBC One series, said in a recent interview that the director of the forthcoming Sky Atlantic series Patrick Melrose (which stars Cumberbatch as an aristocratic playboy struggling to overcome substance abuse) called her about the possibility of playing his wife.

Fortunately, both agreed it would be too weird given Irene and Sherlock's thrilling relationship in Sherlock, and the role went elsewhere.

"Well, the director of Ben's Patrick Melrose project did call to ask about me playing his wife, but we both decided it wouldn't work," she told The Telegraph.

"When you've already been seen in a relationship together on such a large scale..."

BBC

During the interview, Pulver also ruled out a return to Sherlock.

The actress made quite the impression when she starred as the fiery dominatrix in the second series opener 'A Scandal in Belgravia', and appeared in a brief cameo in a fantasy sequence in third series episode 'The Sign of Three'.

However, she dismissed the possibility of an Adler return in this interview.

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"She's not in any more of the books, and how could you top that episode [where Irene greets Sherlock naked] anyway?" she added.

"The nude thing was what grabbed headlines, when it was such a well-crafted episode, such a brilliant piece of writing and she was such a great character. And I'm naive, but you see more of Ben's butt than you do of me."

Patrick Melrose will premiere May 12 on Sky Atlantic.

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