Stephen Fry has Coldplay frontman Chris Martin to thank for his role in the new Sherlock Holmes sequel, the film's director has revealed.
Martin is an avid fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective, and thought TV presenter and raconteur Fry would be perfect to play the sleuth's brother Mycroft in Guy Ritchie's film Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows.
At a press conference to promote the film with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, who play Holmes and Watson, Ritchie said: "Robert and I, we have a mutual friend, Chris Martin out of Coldplay, he's a Sherlockian.
"He's very enthusiastic about the whole thing, like Stephen Fry, and it was his idea. I think he told Robert first."
Downey quipped: "Every good idea in this movie came from Chris Martin."
And Ritchie revealed Fry had no qualms about appearing naked in one scene in the film, which also features Downey dressed up in drag.
"I thought it was going to be an issue when we presented him with the pages and it says he's naked. But then he turned up on the day naked and there was no great resistance, rather like getting Robert into a dress.
"I've got a sneaky suspicion it could've been his idea, anyway, he turned up to work without any clothes."