You’ve seen the memes and the memes are usually about Sherlock. But back in 2016, Benedict Cumberbatch traded the deerstalker for a crown, a prosthetic hump, and a massive amount of medieval mud. He stepped into the role of Richard III for the BBC’s The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, and honestly, it changed the way a lot of people look at Shakespeare’s most famous "villain."
Most folks think of Richard III as a pantomime baddie. You know the type—twirling a mustache and kicking puppies. But Cumberbatch didn’t do that. Along with director Dominic Cooke, he decided to lean into the psychology of a man who was basically bullied by his own family until he broke.
Why Benedict Cumberbatch’s Richard III Still Matters
It’s easy to dismiss another Shakespeare adaptation. There are dozens of them. However, this one felt different because it wasn’t just a filmed play. It was cinematic. Dark. Gritty. The production didn't shy away from the physical reality of Richard's condition. In the very first scene of the episode, the camera pans around a naked, scarred Cumberbatch as he struggles to get dressed. It's uncomfortable to watch.
That was the point.
By showing the physical pain and the labor required just to put on clothes, the show forced us to see Richard as a human being before he started murdering his way to the top. It’s a lot harder to hate a guy when you’ve seen him struggling with a curved spine and a "withered" arm. You start to understand the "why" behind the "what."
The DNA Connection Nobody Expected
Here is a wild bit of trivia: Benedict Cumberbatch is actually related to the real King Richard III.
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I’m not kidding.
Genealogists at the University of Leicester—the same people who found the King’s remains under a parking lot in 2012—confirmed that Cumberbatch is Richard’s third cousin, 16 times removed. Basically, he was playing his own distant relative.
Because of this weirdly perfect timing, Cumberbatch actually attended the reinterment ceremony at Leicester Cathedral in 2015. He read a poem by Carol Ann Duffy called "Richard" while the King's bones were finally laid to rest. Imagine playing a character on TV and then going to his actual funeral a few months later. That’s a level of "method" most actors can only dream of.
Breaking the Fourth Wall
One of the coolest things about the performance was how Richard talked to us.
In Shakespeare’s plays, these are called soliloquies. On stage, the actor usually just shouts them at the rafters. But in The Hollow Crown, Cumberbatch looks directly into the lens. It feels like he’s letting you in on a secret. You become his co-conspirator.
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- The smirks: After lying to his family, he’d give the camera a tiny, knowing look.
- The rage: When things started going south, his addresses to the audience became more frantic and desperate.
- The tapping: He had this habit of rapping his ring against tables, a nervous tick that got faster as his world fell apart.
Dominic Cooke described this as a "true crime" approach. We weren't just watching a king; we were watching the mind of a serial killer from the inside.
How It Compares to the Legends
Look, if you’re a Shakespeare nerd, you probably have a favorite Richard. Laurence Olivier did the high-drama, theatrical version in 1955. Ian McKellen did a brilliant 1930s fascist version in 1995. Both are great.
But Cumberbatch brought a sort of "Sherlock-ian" intellect to it. He played Richard as the smartest guy in the room who was constantly being treated like a monster, so he decided to finally become one. It wasn't about being evil for the sake of it. It was about revenge against a world that never gave him a chance.
What Really Happened With the Casting?
There was a bit of a stir about the casting at first. Some people thought Cumberbatch was just the "it" guy of the moment. But if you watch the Henry VI episodes that come before the Richard III finale, you see the arc. He doesn't start as a king. He starts as a younger brother watching his father and brothers die in a brutal civil war.
By the time he gets to the "Now is the winter of our discontent" speech, he’s already been through hell.
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The cast around him was also insane. You had Judi Dench playing his mother, Cecily Neville. Seeing the two of them scream at each other in a cold, stone room is probably the highlight of the whole series. Dench’s character basically tells him she wishes he’d never been born, and you can see the exact moment Richard’s heart turns into a piece of flint.
The Bosworth Field Climax
Most adaptations treat the final battle like a clean, choreographed dance. The Hollow Crown treated it like a nightmare.
It was mud. It was blood. It was chaos.
When Richard finally loses his horse—leading to the famous "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" line—it doesn't sound like a poetic declaration. It sounds like a man screaming in a ditch because he knows he’s about to die. It’s brutal and unheroic, which is exactly how the real Wars of the Roses probably ended.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Watch
If you're planning to dive into this, don't just jump straight to the Richard III episode. You'll miss half the nuance.
- Watch the Henry VI parts first. You need to see Richard as a soldier before you see him as a tyrant. It explains his relationship with his brothers, Edward and George.
- Pay attention to the mirrors. Throughout the film, Richard is often shown in fractured or wobbly mirrors. It’s a visual cue for his breaking psyche.
- Listen to the silence. Unlike a lot of loud, shouty Shakespeare, this production uses a lot of quiet, whispered moments. Use headphones if you can; the sound design is incredible.
- Look for the "finger tap." As mentioned earlier, Richard’s tapping on the table is a huge tell for his mental state. It’s a subtle bit of acting that pays off in the final act.
Honestly, even if you hate Shakespeare, this is worth a look. It’s basically House of Cards with swords and much better dialogue. Benedict Cumberbatch didn't just play a role here; he reclaimed a historical figure from the "monster" tropes and gave us a human being who made a lot of terrible, bloody choices.
If you want to understand the real power of this performance, watch the scene where he woos Lady Anne over the coffin of the husband he just killed. It’s disgusting, manipulative, and somehow, Cumberbatch makes you understand how she falls for it. That’s the real magic of his Richard III—he makes you like the villain, even when you know better.