While filming a brutal survival TV series, Benedict Cumberbatch was left virtually speechless and in tears by an extraordinary connection to his grandpa.
Running Wild with Bear Grylls has included a slew of big stars throughout the years, including Ben Stiller, Zac Efron, Kate Hudson, and Barack Obama.
Doctor Strange’s Benedict was one of the most recent to arrive, exploring the shoreline of Scotland’s Isle of Skye.
Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, the 46-year-old’s grandpa, was a submarine officer throughout both World Wars.
Henry withdrew from the Royal Navy in 1945 and died in January 1966 at the age of 65.
when Benedict never saw his paternal grandpa, he felt a strong connection to him when filming a TV show with Bear, 49, when he came upon an actual Royal Navy nuclear submarine in the ocean.
It wasn’t there by coincidence, as Bear had ‘called in a favour’ so that Benedict could lay his eyes on a vessel like one that his submarining grandfather would have gone underwater in during the war.
In a video posted to social media by adventurer Beat, he assures Benedict that he has a surprise for him at the end of their trek.
‘Are you ready for this?’ he asks, as Benedict tells him: ‘No, lead the way.’
Bear advises the Oscar candidate to look over at a submarine in the sea ahead as the boat spins in the water.
‘Oh wow,’ Benedict says in awe, as his host tells him: ‘I did call in a favour with the British Royal Navy to ask would they have a nuclear submarine.’
He then finds out that they’re going to be ‘one of the few civilians ever to get to go on’.
Benedict highlights to the camera how moved he is to have this unexpected connection with his grandfather on the show.
‘My grandfather’s been playing in my mind quite a bit over the past couple of days and it felt like a very immediate connection to him, and to see it was just an oh my god shock moment,’ he says.
Wiping away tears, he says: ‘Amazing. I’m so moved, I’m so moved by it.’
On Twitter, Bear wrote: ‘A powerful moment of raw emotion for Benedict Cumberbatch as we ended our @RunningWildwBG journey… Benedict’s grandfather had commanded a submarine in WW2 and I felt proud to be able to involve the @RoyalNavy & @RoyalMarines to help us end the adventure… thank you so much!….’
Several of his followers expressed how moved they were by the footage, with one writing: ‘it was very touching.’
Running Wild with Bear Grylls airs on National Geographic.
