‘Sherlock’ star Benedict Cumberbatch bashes ‘Downton Abbey’ again

Benedict Cumberbatch is apparently unimpressed with "Downton Abbey", as the "Sherlock" star is back to bashing season two of ITV1's hit period drama. The actor voiced his harsh opinion in an interview with Reader’s Digest, saying that the latest season of the show is “f***ing atrocious.”

“We’re remembering that there was a world before the First World War. We’re living in a culture now that’s revering, or having a nostalgia trip with, the beginning of the 1900s. Although Downton traded a lot on the sentiment in the last series…but we won’t talk about that series because it was, in my opinion, f***ing atrocious,” Cumberbatch told the publication.

36-year-old Benedict Cumberbatch shared the strong words about the hugely-popular British period drama while promoting his new BBC Two miniseries "Parade's End”. Unhappy that his new show was being compared to “Downton Abbey”, the actor was quick to vent his frustrations about the series.

According to Telegraph, Cumberbatch said, “There was that fear, yes. I thought, ‘Are we pandering to a taste?’ But this is so much more sophisticated, so much more unusual. You rarely see a piece about this class of people that’s this accurate, funny and pointed.”

“We’re not making some clichéd comment: ‘Oh, isn’t it awful the way there’s this upstairs-downstairs divide.’ This is about class and love, an elegy to a dying era,” he added.

Benedict Cumberbatch has the lead role in “Parade’s End”, which is adapted from the novels of Ford Madox Ford. He plays Christopher Tietjens, a government statistician married to an adulterous wife, played by Rebecca Hall. Meanwhile, “Downton Abbey”, created by Oscar winner Julian Fellows, follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family around the time of the First World War.

This is not the first time Cumberbatch has attacked "Downton Abbey”. Earlier this year, he told The New York Times that he had mocked U.S. executive producer Rebecca Eaton after she won a Golden Globe for the series.

He told the tabloid, “I just looked it and went: ‘Begone woman. Bring it back when it says Sherlock Holmes or Steven Moffat or myself - someone else who's more deserving than the second series of Downton Abbey.’"

However, he later clarified his comments to the press, saying he was obviously joking and was a huge fan of the series. “I can tell you I'm a huge fan of Downton Abbey, and what I said was, quite, quite, clearly - to most intelligent New York Times readers - a joke,” Cumberbatch said at the time.