Benedict Cumberbatch on a Zoom call with Taika Waititi during his lockdown stay in Hawke's Bay. The bookshelves were the clue that revealed he was staying at Summerlee in Te Awanga. Photo / File
Benedict Cumberbatch on a Zoom call with Taika Waititi during his lockdown stay in Hawke's Bay. The bookshelves were the clue that revealed he was staying at Summerlee in Te Awanga. Photo / File
A-lister Benedict Cumberbatch might've been in lockdown in Hawke's Bay, but it didn't stop him seeing some of the region.
Ever since a Sherlock Holmes-inspired Hawke's Bay Today reporter looked at Cumberbatch's bookshelves in May, 2020 and realised they looked a lot like the one at a resortin Te Awanga, our inboxes have been overwhelmed with people proclaiming to have seen him during his five-month stay with his parents.
Cumberbatch, 45, brought up the topic with world media again this week when he proclaimed he had "loved" being in lockdown in Hawke's Bay.
The 45-year-old actor was with children Christopher, 6, Hal, 4, and Finn, 3, and wife Sophie Hunter and was filming Netflix Western drama The Power of the Dog in New Zealand when lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of Covid-19 were enforced.
"I was with my wife and children and my Mum and Dad had come over to have a three-week experience with us and see their boy riding a horse and steering cattle. And then they stayed for five months. We were so lucky. Far away from home, but we found a new one."
Here's what we know of Cumberbatch's movements while he was in Hawke's Bay:
LEGITIMATE:
Helen Martin: The people around the Clifton area were very good to him and the family and kept their privacy quiet, shared school lessons, etc, including "catch" of the day from the fishing club.
