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"Martin Freeman has revealed that he almost missed out on the role of Dr Watson in Sherlock. The 42-year-old star of The Hobbit revealed to Radio Times, that his first audition was not successful after being a victim of robbery earlier in the day.  Freeman said that he felt distracted in the audition and meeting with producers, after he was targeted by a thief and had his wallet stolen. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ll admit maybe I was a bit stressed,&amp;quot; said the actor, who stars alongside his real-life partner Amanda Abbington in the third series of the hit BBC One drama - which returns next week. &amp;quot;But a week later my agent rang and said, &amp;#039;Listen, this Sherlock thing, they&amp;#039;re sort of under the impression you weren&amp;#039;t that into it.&amp;#039; And I said &amp;#039;Oh... I am really interested. Please call them and let them know that I am interested.&amp;#039; I wasn&amp;#039;t being blase about it at all. I just wasn&amp;#039;t on my best day.&amp;quot; Freeman then added that it was a chemistry test with co-star Benedict Cumberbatch that ensured he got the role. &amp;quot;I came in again, read with Benedict and it instantly worked, it seemed to me... I thought he was a fantastic actor and there was something about our rhythms, similarities and differences that meant that it just happened.&amp;quot; Sherlock returns on BBC One, January 1, 9pm. Catch up on all the latest TV and Movies releases in Digital Spy&amp;#039;s Screen Time:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/sherlock/news/a540677/martin-freeman-almost-missed-out-on-sherlock-role-due-to-bad-audition/>