Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a passionate speech about Alan Turing, the genius codebreaker who the actor portrayed in ‘The Imitation Game’. 

While accepting the award for best ensemble cast at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the actor spoke about Turing’s bravery, coming out as a gay man in the 1950s despite facing definite prosecution.

“Alan Turing was a war hero, he was a gay icon and he was and is the father of modern computing science,” he said. “He is a man who died tragically early due to a Government that he helped free from fascism by his work in the Second World War in cracking the Enigma code, rewarding him for his nature, for confessing to who he was as a gay man in a time of intolerance in the 1950s.”

Watch the full speech below.