This video of Benedict Cumberbatch will be the most entertaining thing you watch all day

The actor does his best imitations of more than a few well-known figures

Benedict Cumberbatch arrives for the The Imitation Game Los Angeles Special Screening, hosted By Chanel at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, California, on 10 November, 2014 (AFP/Getty )

Benedict Cumberbatch has shown there’s more than one string to his bow – in fact, there are 11.

The actor, whose latest film The Imitation Game hits the silver screen today, showed off his own imitation skills to MTV.

Given one minute, Cumberbatch did a series of impressions, including John Malkovich, Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine – although some were admittedly more convincing than others.

While his imitations of Alan Rickman and Owen Wilson could give the men themselves a run for their money, his attempt to mimic Taylor Swift left a little more to be desired. Probably best to just shake it off…

Cumberbatch, who recently announced his engagement to theatre actress and director Sophie Hunter, has been tipped for an Oscar for his role in The Imitation Game.

He plays Alan Turing in the biopic about the Bletchley Park codebreaker, who lives with the pressure of hiding his sexuality at a time when homosexuality was criminalised.

Cumberbatch has spoken about his own experience of homophobic attitudes while he was at school and said that he would defend his belief in gay rights to the very end.

Directed by Morten Tyldum, the film also stars Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Allen Leech and is the first English language film directed by the Norwegian filmmaker.