Benedict Cumberbatch tackles time playing 400-year-old

Benedict Cumberbatch bought the rights to the yet unpublished How to Stop Time which is described as a "wildly imagined love story"

Benedict Cumberbatch's versatility shows no end as he gears up for another offbeat role.

With characters like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Strange under his belt, he's signed up to play a supposed 41-year-old who is really 400.

He'll star as Tom Hazard in the film adaptation of the forthcoming How to Stop Time by author Matt Haig.

Described as a "wildly imagined love story", it follows Haig's children's books such as A Boy Called Christmas.

How to Stop Time won't hit shelves until July, but we know Hazard's youthful looks are down to an "extremely rare condition".

"The prospect of Benedict Cumberbatch playing Tom Hazard is a hugely exciting one and I could not be happier," Haig said.

The writer is best known for his quirky - and dark - stories about family life.

Benedict Cumberbatch is lined up to return as Dr Strange in two Marvel superhero movies

Cumberbatch's production company SunnyMarch will make the film with Studiocanal, while the actor will also take on the role of executive producer.

Before that, he'll be coming back as the eccentric surgeon Dr Stephen Strange in the Marvel superhero movies Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War.

He'll also star in The Current War as the real-life genius inventor Thomas Edison.