BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** March 20, 2012 11:31 am

I was on Twitter yesterday when all this was kicking off. Pretty hilarious.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/19/otters-who-look-like-benedict-cumberbatch_n_1362375.html#s792622

**Posted by kazza474** March 20, 2012 2:03 pm

I know, I want to find whoever initially said such a thing, and slap them silly!
I saw that Amanda Abbington has seen it & thinks it's hilarious.

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** March 21, 2012 12:41 am

Oh my God, this really has made the mainstream news now...it's crazy what the internet can do eh?

Now Magazine
http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk/celebrity-news/tv-news/534890/sherlock-star-benedict-cumberbatch-compared-to-an-otter-on-blogging-website/1

The Mirror
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/weird-celeb-news/benedict-cumberbatch-looks-like-an-otter-767417

The Independent
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/03/19/otters-who-look-like-benedict-cumberbatch-and-other-trends-on-twitter/

The Sun
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4204957/W-otter-dead-ringer.html

It's completely insane! Makes you proud to be part of the fandom...yeah...kind of...in a weird way...

**Posted by 42_and_221B** March 21, 2012 2:17 am

Haha, that is pretty funny! Cute otters, and of course Sherlock is just Sherlock.

**Posted by kazza474** March 21, 2012 2:40 am

OMG

POOR BENEDICT!!!!

**Posted by Wholocked** March 21, 2012 4:00 am

I know! Of all the things to prompt a viral campaign...last thing I read a friend or spokesperson said he hadn't seen them.

**Posted by kazza474** March 21, 2012 5:10 am

I've read the same from a few sources however by now he probably has. Whether he let's anyone know publicly that he has seen them will be another matter though! If he does, it could encourage more, lol.
Anyway, in his defence, I say Martin's resemblance to a hedgehog is more obvious than Ben's to otters. lol

Last edited by kazza474 (March 21, 2012 5:12 am)

**Posted by kazza474** March 21, 2012 5:18 am

And I put more faith in this one also.

**Posted by theCuriousOne** March 21, 2012 6:25 am

LOL..
can't stop laughing when I saw your last post.. owl and Gatiss resemblance...

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** March 21, 2012 6:42 am

Lol, mind if I steal the Gatiss one for my Tumblr?

**Posted by kazza474** March 21, 2012 7:09 am

I am desperately trying to find a Moffat likeness; needs to be the same expression of the face, but he isn't like any animal I can think of!!!
(Also trying for Anderson etc, just to take the heat of Benedict)

**Posted by theCuriousOne** March 21, 2012 10:23 am

hmm.. what about Grizzly Bear (moffat)..

**Posted by kazza474** March 21, 2012 10:32 am

I thought that, but can't find any images that match up at all.

We're looking for something with that 'steel wool' on top of the head, lol . (Sorry Steven!)
I even thought of birds, but nothing similar there either.

Anderson, I cannot get the idea of an Aardvark out of my mind, lol.
But no images match there either.

**Posted by 42_and_221B** March 21, 2012 3:07 pm

I love these, haha! But I don't get it, why some of you guys are upset about it? I don't think there's anything wrong with looking like an otter, or a hedgehog, or an owl for example. ;P They're all quite cute animals! :D

**Posted by Davina** March 21, 2012 4:04 pm

Everyone KNOWS Martin is partly made of kittens though! The funny thing about the otters is that Benedict is also in Cabin Pressure and this has a running joke about otters!

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** March 22, 2012 12:57 am

Maybe that's where the idea came from originally?

**Posted by NatchiizNachii** July 20, 2014 10:56 am

Benny told the interviewer that the first pic in this link >> http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/19/otters-who-look-like-benedict-cumberbatch_n_1362375.html#s792622 << was good.(I can't remember the exact word, may be amazing, great or something like that.) He said the action of putting two hands together under the otter's chin like Sherlock did was perfect.

I can't remember the clip's name but it's the Benny's interview of ST:Into Darkness.

**Posted by Lucas44** December 24, 2014 10:32 am

thanks a lot.....

**Posted by ukaunz** November 28, 2015 9:15 pm

For those (like me) who weren't in the fandom when the Otters meme first appeared:
http://redscharlach.tumblr.com/post/9079241529/otter-has-been-successfully-hypnotized
This is the post that started the whole "Otters who look like Benedict Cumberbatch" idea. You can then click the #otters who look like Benedict tag to see the whole history of the meme. I only gave it about three seconds thought when I first heard about it, but now that it has featured on the Graham Norton show three times, I'm intrigued. It's an Internet/pop culture phenomenon. The author, redscharlach, is gobsmacked at how far the meme has gone, and says that she'd love to meet Ben and apologise profusely, because Ben gets asked about in so many interviews! Notice she never said that BC looks like an otter, it's the other way around. Listen to her talk about it on the Three Patch Podcast episode 25, I think it's really interesting.

Last edited by ukaunz (November 28, 2015 9:16 pm)

**Posted by SusiGo** November 28, 2015 9:50 pm

Thank you for posting. I always associated it with "Ottery St Mary" episode from CP and not this post. Now I finally know where it all came from.