Watch Benedict Cumberbatch have go at cracking the enigmatic Alan Turing

He was a mathematician and genius code-breaker who, on the way to helping win World War II, laid the foundations of modern computing. He should have been celebrated in his own lifetime. Instead he faced accusations of spying for the soviets and chemical castration for homosexuality before eventually committing suicide.

The task facing anyone trying to play Alan Turing on film is not, therefore, a simple one. The latest actor to take up the challenge is Benedict Cumberbatch. The Sherlock actor and subject of pretty much universal geek adulation, will play Turing in a new biopic called The Imitation Game.

Starring alongside Cumberbatch are Keira Knightley, Charles Dance (best known to younger viewers as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones) and Mark Strong.

While the movie has drawn criticism from Turing’s biographer and niece for romanticising his life story and downplaying his homosexuality, it does look pretty watchable and should at least help more people understand some of the complexity behind Turing’s story.