'Sherlock’ Actor Benedict Cumberbatch Talks About Combating Islamic State -- Report

Sherlock Holmes uses his razor-sharp observation skills and deduction skills to solve the most complicated criminal cases and to take down the most dangerous criminals and organisations. Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the famous fictional detective in BBC's "Sherlock," cannot be expected to do that in real life and decimate the radical group Islamic State (IS or ISIS). The actor, however, shares his views about IS and how to combat it in an interview with The Daily Beast.

Cumberbatch told The Daily Beast, "... the usual means of showing your prowess and strength just won't work with this (IS). You can't kill an idea with bombs -- in fact, you often strengthen ideas with bombs. To really understand is how we're going to be able to start combating it, and changing it."

Cumberbatch said that intelligence-gathering "isn't always the bad thing to do, and if you've got people on the ground who are part the movement who could help us understand ISIS better instead of... [...just saying "Let's bomb the shit out of them]."

According to reports, there are many British nationals who have joined the most gruesome terrorist organisation. Cumberbatch said that a retired intelligence officer was talking about allowing the radicals, who intend to return, to enter UK. "Why wouldn't we want to learn from them what the hell is going on over there? What made them want to do it? Who recruited them, and how to stop the recruiting? What, we just shut the problem out?" Cumberbatch said to The Daily Beast.

He also said that he understands the security concerns, as the returning radicals may carry a bomb onto the public transport. Saying that, he added, "... if it's managed-and I think with those who are known, how could it not be managed?-how would we not benefit from them being reabsorbed back into our culture?"

In the past, Cumberbatch has been associated with Stop the War Coalition, which protested the war in Iraq. He believes that IS is a "byproduct" of what the U.S. and UK and the allies did in Iraq.

In Jan. 2015, Cumberbatch will be returning to the set of "Sherlock" to film one-off special episode. He will be filming Season 4 later in 2015. According to reports, the production of "Sherlock" Season 4 has been pushed ahead because of the busy acting schedules of Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.