Here’s how to watch Benedict Cumberbatch playing famed artist Vincent van Gogh in Van Gogh: Painted With Words online – including whether the docudrama is available to stream with Netflix, Hulu or Prime. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch might be best known for playing famous fictional characters like the titular detective in BBC’s Sherlock or Dr. Strange in the MCU, but he’s played a lot of real-life people during his career too. In fact, Cumberbatch is practically the go-to British actor when it comes to casting biographical roles.
His performance as famed physicist Stephen Hawking in the BBC TV film Hawking earned Cumberbatch a BAFTA nomination, while his turn as fellow British genius Alan Turing in The Imitation Game earned him a Best Actor nomination nod at the Oscars. He’s also played inventor Thomas Edison, WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange and – most recently – the titular English artist in The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain. Wain wasn’t the first artist Cumberbatch played onscreen, however, as back in 2010 he portrayed legendary Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in the BBC drama-documentary Painted With Words.
Painted With Words takes a deep dive into the life of the talented yet troubled artist by way of a series of letters van Gogh penned to his younger brother Theo. It’s presented by former BBC creative director Alan Yentob, who co-adapted van Gogh’s letters for docudrama with director Andrew Hutton. Yentob’s narration is interspersed with dramatic scenes that star Benedict Cumberbatch giving an impassioned performance as the tortured genius and features Jamie Parker (1917) as Theo van Gogh and Aidan McArdle as French artist Paul Gauguin, a close friend of the brothers. Luckily, there are a few ways to watch Painted With Words online.
While Painted With Words isn’t currently in the Netflix or Hulu libraries, the Vincent van Gogh drama is available to watch with Amazon Prime for subscribers that have the Britbox add-on (which costs $6.99 per month). Britbox users can also watch the docudrama directly via the streaming service which is available in the U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia or South Africa and boasts tons of other British shows in its catalog. Helpfully, director Andrew Hutton also uploaded the docudrama to his Vimeo channel where it can be watched for free.
Van Gogh: Painted With Words is by no means the first van Gogh’s life has been dramatized, nor is Cumberbatch the first or last actor to portray the legendary artist. Kirk Douglas played Vincent van Gogh in the 1956 film Lust For Life and he’s also been played by Tim Roth in Vincent & Theo and Tony Curran in Doctor Who. Most recently, Willem Dafoe took on the role for 2018's At Eternity’s Gate.