‘Masterpiece’ as crystal ball

Benedict Cumberbatch in “Sherlock.”Hartswood Films & MASTERPIECE

I love the popularity of Benedict Cumberbatch in the United States because, well, I discovered him.

Not really, but I remember seeing him in an excellent miniseries on PBS’ “Masterpiece” called “To the Ends of the Earth” in 2005 and admiring his performance. That was long before he became Cumby, the Oscar-nominated actor who reinvented Sherlock Holmes.

Cumberbatch has just announced yet another project, and this one will be on TV, on Showtime. It’s a five-part miniseries called “Melrose,” and it will be based on the five Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn. Each episode will focus on a different Melrose book.

I love the way “Masterpiece” — which has another Cumberbatch project, an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s “The Child in Time,” in the works — can serve as a jumping pad for talent. If you watch the series, you often see actors who will go on to become well-known in the States.

A few examples:

Keira Knightley, who has been nominated for two Oscars (for “Pride & Prejudice” in 2006 and “The Imitation Game” in 2015), was in PBS’s “Oliver Twist” back in 1999.

Carey Mulligan became an Oscar-nominated actress in 2010 (for “An Education”), and she starred in “Drive” (2010) and “Inside Llewyn Davis” (2013); she did some fine early work on PBS’s “Bleak House” in 2006.

Damian Lewis is best known for “Homeland” and “Billions,” both from Showtime, but in 2002 he starred in PBS’s “The Forsyte Saga.”

Tom Hardy, a star after “Inception” (2010) and “The Revenant” (2015), was in the excellent 2005 PBS production “The Virgin Queen.”

Ruth Wilson made a splash as Alice on “Luther” in 2010, and she now stars in Showtime’s “The Affair.” Back in 2006, she starred in a PBS adaptation of “Jane Eyre.”

Other actors loyal “Masterpiece” viewers saw first: Romola Garai, Hugh Bonneville, Dan Stevens, James Frain, Matthew MacFadyen, and Hugh Dancy.