--- --- # Benedict Cumberbatch Soulfully Portrays a Fallen Aristocrat in _Patrick Melrose_  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario May 10, 2018 11:21 AM UTC  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario May 10, 2018 11:21 AM UTC The _Patrick Melrose_ novels, by the British writer Edward St. Aubyn, depict the life of a dissolute man as he goes from squandering his promise to having squandered it. Patrick is born into high social status but trained from youth that to strive is unbecoming; instead, he plunges into addiction, finding redemption slowly. Benedict Cumberbatch, the primly composed actor, makes for a perfect Patrick. In Showtime’s remarkable, decades-traversing new miniseries _Patrick Melrose_, Cumberbatch’s boarding-school anticharisma neatly coincides with a character who holds the world at arm’s length. And the actor’s calculatedness, known to fans of _Sherlock_, looks radically different as he counts the minutes, and even the seconds, until his next hit, or whiles away the hours after giving drugs up. His is a soulful, careening tale told with both novelistic sweep and deeply personal emotion. Benedict Cumberbatch Plays Soulful Role in "Patrick Melrose" ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5272333/benedict-cumberbatch-patrick-melrose/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5272333/benedict-cumberbatch-patrick-melrose/"},"headline":"Benedict Cumberbatch Soulfully Portrays a Fallen Aristocrat in Patrick Melrose","datePublished":"2018-05-10T11:21:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:14:05.809Z","description":"Benedict Cumberbatch plays a drug addict seeking redemption in Showtime's adaptation of Edward St. Aubyn's \"The Patrick Melrose Novels.\"","url":"https://time.com/5272333/benedict-cumberbatch-patrick-melrose/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel D'Addario","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5272333/benedict-cumberbatch-patrick-melrose/","name":"Benedict Cumberbatch Soulfully Portrays a Fallen Aristocrat in Patrick Melrose"}}]}] ```