US movie stars join Benedict Cumberbatch’s epic new TV saga ‘Patrick Melrose’

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch begins filming his new TV drama Patrick Melrose next month.

Based on the popular series of semi-autobiographical novels by Edward St Aubyn, the five-part mini-series is described as “a true television saga.”

Patrick Melrose will be set in the South of France in the 1960s, New York in the 1980s and Britain in the early 2000s.

Cumberbatch, who is playing the title character, will be joined by Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the RingsThe Matrix) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) as Melrose’s parents, alongside Anna Madeley (The Crown) as his wife.

Written by David Nicholls (One Day), Patrick Melrose “hilariously skewers the upper class as it tracks its protagonist’s harrowing journey from a deeply traumatic childhood through adult substance abuse and, ultimately, towards recovery.”

Each episode will be devoted to one of St Aubyn’s five novels, exploring Melrose’s life, from his abusive youth at the hands of his father and the mother who tacitly condones the behaviour, to the outrageous playboy he becomes and the struggles he endures to defy the damage of his own past.

Patrick Melrose will air on Sky Atlantic in the UK and on Showtime in the US.