The man who fights crime on-screen like a boss has an unforgettable tale to tell. "Sherlock" star Benedict Cumberbatch, revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he was kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa.

Benedict Cumberbatch. Image - Facebook/ Benedict Cumberbatch Fan Page

Cumberbatch told The Hollywood Reporter he and two of his pals driving north of Durban back to the sets of "To the End of the Earth," a 2005 miniseries, when their car stopped because of a flat tire.

"We were in South Africa, in KwaZulu-Natal, this amazing district north of Durban," he recounted. "It was cold, and it was dark. I felt rotten."

As they continued driving through the dangerous zone, the car's front-right tire went flat and all the three occupants had to unload the trunk to get the spare out.

"We were like sitting ducks, adverts for -- not prosperity necessarily but materialism," Cumberbatch stated.

The night was pitching black, and they were scared, it was then six armed men emerged out of nowhere and caught them unaware.

"They were like: 'Look down! Look down! Put your hands on your head! Look at the floor! And they started frisking us and said: 'Where's your money? Where's your drugs?" recounted Cumberbatch. "And at that point, this adrenaline of fight or flight just exploded in my body. I was like, 'Oh f--k, we're f--ked."

Soon after, Cumberbatch and his pals were tied and put in a car. The abductors then drove off with them. When Cumberbatch complained that his bindings are making his limbs feel numb - the assailants stuffed him in the trunk.

After a while, the car stopped, and his kidnappers dumped him on the ground. "I was scared, really scared. I said: 'What are you going to do with us? Are you going to kill us?' I was really worried that I was going to get raped or molested or just tortured or toyed with in some way, some act of control and savagery."

Luck was by his side that night, the abductors let him go and zoomed off. Later, Cumberbatch was rescued by a stranger.

"I looked into this black man's face, and I cried with gratitude," Cumberbatch recalled. "It really, really enriches your values in life," he said. "It's incredibly important."

Benedict Cumberbatch will soon be seen in "The Fifth Estate" as "WikiLeaks" founder Julian Assange with whom he shared emails via a friend.