Mark Gatiss: I based Sherlock’s Mycroft on Peter Mandelson

In the BBC’s Sherlock, Mark Gatiss plays Sherlock Holmes’s sly older brother Mycroft. Now the actor has revealed in an interview with the Radio Times that the person who inspired his performance is none other than Peter Mandelson.

‘I based Mycroft on Peter Mandelson. It was explicit even before I was going to play him. Steven Moffat and I talked about how Mandelsonian Mycroft was… Conan Doyle says Mycroft is the British government. He’s the power behind the throne. Both Mandelson and Mycroft are the sort of people who, I think, would sit out a world war. [They would think] there’s a longer game to be played.’

Happily, this meant Gatiss didn’t need to stretch himself too much when he was cast to play New Labour’s real prince of darkness in Channel 4’s Coalition. The League of Gentlemen actor takes on the role of Mandy in the political drama, which depicts Labour’s attempts to form a coalition after the 2010 election.