You may have heard that we photographed and interviewed Mr Cumberbatch for an ELLE cover recently. Not that we've mentioned it much, but word does spread... (you can read the full story here)

During the course of the day, we fell to talking about sex. Specifically, Sherlock and sex. We find it intriguing that most right-thinking females (and males, for that matter) are very attracted to Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes, despite the fact that the character in the BBC adaptation is a virgin, a sociopath and, we think, likely to be a lousy lay if ever he were to relinquish said virginity.

Mr Cumberbatch disagrees. Strenuously. 'He knows bodies very well,' insists Benedict. Then he proved it to us.

ELLE UK: A lot of women fancy Sherlock.

BC: Their problem, not mine.

ELLE UK: I do get it, he’s incredibly endearing, but…

BC: Will this tell me more about you than the answer will tell you about me?

ELLE UK: …I actually think he would be a terrible shag.

BC: Really? That’s terrible!

ELLE UK: I think he would be proficient, of course, but he would lack enthusiasm and he would find it distasteful.

BC: Ah, these are terrible stereotypes. And come on, he seduced Janine.

ELLE UK: But they didn’t have sex?

BC: Oh you’re right, very good, you spotted that.

ELLE UK: What do you think Sherlock would be like in bed? How would you play a love scene as Sherlock?

BC: Oooh… You know I’d get the, I’d probably test the latex, if it involved prophylactics, beforehand.

BC: I’d do a little experiment to do with durability, length, girth, and um, strength. And um, I would probably take a lot of vitamin supplements to make sure that I could perform, and had had my sleep, and probably not had many cigarettes. Or drink, for that matter. Not that he does drink.

ELLE UK: You see. Proficient, but lacking enthusiasm.

BC: Yeah, no wait for it. I would probably watch a lot of porn...

BC: I might have to shave, um, areas to fit in with a modern idea of bodily hair.

BC: And then I would be devastating. I’d know exactly how to please a woman, I’d know exactly where to put my fingers, where to put my tongue, where to put my – his I should say – his fingers, his tongue. Think about violinists, think about what they can do with their fingers.

BC: And I’d know exactly how to get that person into it, and get pleasure out of making that person feel pleasure to the point that I probably wouldn’t even have to enter…

BC: But when I did it would be explosive.

ELLE UK: But does he ever lose control?

BC: So in sex, would he lose control? I think to have really good sex he would probably have to.

ELLE UK: So he’d decide to lose control. He’d make a controlled decision?

BC: This is a very dark alley we’re going down. No pun intended. Um, Yeah. Yeah. If it was necessary yes, yes. Very much so.

ELLE UK: I'd quite like to watch that love scene now.

BC: You never will. It’s not that kind of a programme, is it?

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Now read Benedict talks Sherlock and Sex Part 2... starring Molly and Irene Adler

Want more? Watch Benedict playing Word Games with us

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