Brave Benedict Cumberbatch saved a Deliveroo cyclist from being attacked by four men in London. The ‘Sherlock’ actor and his wife Sophie Hunter, 40, were travelling in an Uber when they spotted a Deliveroo cyclist surrounded by four men and being hit over the head with a bottle on Marylebone High Street in the city.

The driver quickly stopped the car and he and Benedict, 41, got out and intervened in the assault, saving the grateful cyclist from further injury, just minutes away from Sherlock Holmes’ former residence on Baker Street. Driver Manuel Dias told The Sun newspaper: “Benedict was courageous, brave and selfless. If he hadn’t stepped in the cyclist could have been seriously injured. Here was Sherlock Holmes fighting off four attackers just round the corner from Baker Street. He stood there instructing them in the street, shouting, ‘Leave him alone’.”

Mr Dias praised Benedict for his bravery and said the attackers finally ran away when they saw that the hero was the famous actor. He said: “I had hold of one lad and Benedict another. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. He was very brave. He did most of it, to be honest. They tried to hit him but he defended himself and pushed them away. He wasn’t injured. Then, I think, they also saw it was Benedict and ran away.”

Benedict then comforted the victim with a hug and modestly explained away his heroics, saying: “I did it out of, well, I had to, you know…”