Benedict Cumberbatch ate 4,000 calories to get ready for Star Trek: Into Darkness. The actor has revealed he gorged on fattening foods and endured an intense physical boot camp in order to bulk up for his role as mysterious villain John Harrison in J.J. Abrams' sci-fi sequel.

"It was the first time I'd really intensely shape-shifted ... To go up from a 38 chest to a 42, eating 4,000 calories a day and training two hours a day, as well as the stunt rehearsals and fight choreography, was the most physical demand that's ever been made of me for the screen," he said.

However, Benedict was honest when asked whether he was a bit of a geek when it came to the cult space saga and revealed he was never obsessed with the programme when he was growing up. "Not very much ... I obviously have a latent fan fixation with Star Trek because of how thrilled I was when everyone got together in the first reboot. I never was obsessive about anything I watched when I was a kid, except maybe The A-Team and Airwolf ... And I loved Knight Rider and then later Baywatch," he confessed.