Women may go crazy for Benedict Cumberbatch, but the BBC wasn't so sure when it first found out that he would be Sherlock Holmes.

"Sherlock" showrunner Steven Moffat has revealed that BBC didn't think Cumberbatch was sexy enough.

"You promised us a sexy Sherlock, not him," the BBC said, according to Moffat.

And apparently, the broadcasting company also had reservations about David Tennant on "Doctor Who." The BBC said, "Damn, you should have cast someone sexier."

When it comes to picking talent, though, Moffat knows what he is doing. Both Cumberbatch's and Tennant's characters are beloved by fans. And Cumberbatch has a legion of female fans who calls themselves "Cumberb-tches," though he prefers that they call themselves "Cumberpeople."

Moffat likes to find actors who are "attractive in a very odd way" for "Doctor Who."

"None of the Doctors are conventionally attractive but they're all arresting," he said. "Handsome men don't quite suit."

Cumberbatch may not take offense to not being thought of as sexy enough. The actor has explained that he is surprised that he's seen as a sex symbol.

"It's interesting and it's something I'm processing," he said in 2012. "Do I like being thought of as attractive? I don't know anyone on Earth who doesn't, but I do find it funny. I look in a mirror and I see all the faults I've lived with for 35 years and yet people go kind of nuts for certain things about me. It's not me being humble. I just think it's weird."

Cumberbatch and his co-star and friend Martin Freeman are up against each other for the best actor in a movie or mini-series award at the Critics' Choice Television Award. Cumberbatch is nominated for "Sherlock: His Last Vow" and Freeman is nominated for his role as Lester Nygaard in the FX show "Fargo."

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