Actor Benedict Cumberbatch cheated death at the hands of armed kidnappers in South Africa years before starring in BBC’s “Sherlock” and breaking through on this side of the Pond in “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

In 2005, the 35-year-old was filming the TV mini-series To The Ends of the Earth in South Africa and had traveled to St Lucia, on the northeast coast near Mozambique, to practice scuba diving with two pals.

However, a tyre on his car exploded as he was going back to his hotel with actress Denise Black and a South African friend.

He told the Daily Star that a band of six guys attacked them as they attempted to change the tyre, pushing them into a car and driving away.

Denise Black

He said: ‘The three of us were trying to change the tyre. These six men appeared suddenly from the eucalyptus plantation. They said, Put your hands on your head, don’t look at us, and were frisking us for drugs, money, weapons. Then they bundled us into the car.’

According to Cumberbatch, they were grabbed and transported down a rural road, where he found himself handcuffed to Denise towards the end of the night.

When the gang came to a halt, they shoved Mr Cumberbatch into the car’s trunk.

He said: “But I argued my way out,” he said. “I said: ‘If you leave me in here, it’s not the lack of air, it’s the small space. There’s a problem with my heart and my brain.’

‘I just tried to explain to them: “I will die, possibly have a fit, and it will be a problem for you. I will be a dead Englishman in your car. Not good”.’

‘They shut the boot and had an argument, and then pulled me out.

‘So I kind of thank God I had the presence of mind to give them the idea that it would be better to keep me alive. And the other two hadnt been harmed.

‘It taught me that you come into this world as you leave it, on your own. Its made me want to live a life slightly less ordinary.’

He is currently appearing in War Horse, in which he portrays Major Stewart, based on Michael Morpurgo’s novel.

He also provides the voice of Smaug the dragon in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, which is presently filming in New Zealand.

But he is most recognized for his portrayal as Sherlock Holmes, opposite Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson, who plays Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.