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The actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who has portrayed Sherlock Holmes, is credited with coming to the aid of a bicyclist who was attacked near a statue of the character in London.

The man they’re calling a hero could not be reached for comment, so we will have to deduce what we can from the accounts of witnesses and the police.

Here is what the driver said he saw: One night in London, on Marylebone High Street, just blocks away from a statue of Sherlock Holmes, a young man with a bike appeared to be in danger. Four men were attacking him.

The driver, Manuel Dias, was giving an Uber ride to a man and a woman he didn’t know. He later told the British newspaper The Sun that the man jumped out of the car and yelled at the attackers to leave the cyclist alone.

That was when Mr. Dias recognized his passenger.

“Then it all got a bit surreal,” he said. “Here was Sherlock Holmes fighting off four attackers just round the corner from Baker Street.”

Mr. Dias knew it was not actually Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes isn’t real.

It was the actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who played the eccentric detective on the BBC and PBS television series “Sherlock,” which was based on the short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. (Mr. Cumberbatch has more recently appeared as Doctor Strange in the movie “Avengers: Infinity War” and in the title role for the television series “Patrick Melrose.”)

The driver and the actor worked together to stop the attack, Mr. Dias told The Sun.

“I had hold of one lad and Benedict another. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. He was very brave. He did most of it, to be honest,” he said. “They tried to hit him but he defended himself and pushed them away. He wasn’t injured. Then I think they also recognized it was Benedict and ran away.”

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police in London also shared its record of events: On Nov. 25, the police were called to reports of an assault on Marylebone High Street at 9:30 p.m. local time.

The police account read: “The victim, aged in his 20s, was making a delivery on a pedal cycle traveling in the direction of Marylebone Road when he was approached by a group of males. One of the males attempted to grab the victim’s cycle. The victim dismounted and removed his helmet. He was then punched in the face, struck on the head and hit with his helmet.”

Then, the police said, the group got away. There was no mention of a celebrity intervention, and the police did not confirm the names of any of those involved. Nothing was reported stolen. The victim did not go to the hospital. No arrests were made.

Mr. Dias said the cyclist was working for the food delivery company Deliveroo, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the company did make a statement on Twitter: “Thank you Benedict Cumberbatch for your brave actions. Deliveroo riders are heroes — their safety is our priority and any violence against them is totally unacceptable.”

Still, the story of what happened on that night remains partly untold. Some key accounts are missing. The cyclist could not be reached and representatives for Mr. Cumberbatch and his wife, Sophie Hunter, who was in the car with him, did not respond to requests for comment.

And when The Sun asked Mr. Cumberbatch about the episode, he offered very little. “I did it out of, well, I had to, you know,” he said.

By Jacey Fortin

Source: www.nytimes.com