Real Brit could enliven "Sherlock Holmes 2"

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This could be inspired casting: Stephen Fry as Sherlock Holmes' smarter brother.

Fry — the British comedian, actor, raconteur and Twitter fiend who used to be Hugh Laurie's partner-in-comedy before Laurie went to America to browbeat hospital patients on "House" — has reportedly landed a plum role in "Sherlock Holmes 2," the follow-up to last year's brawny version of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic.

This report comes from Fry himself, who spilled the beans on a BBC radio program over the weekend, according to Cinematical. Fry would play Mycroft Holmes, the more sedentary and but slightly more talented brother of Sherlock (played by Robert Downey Jr.).

If you don't know Fry's work, check out any of the following: The second and fourth seasons of "Blackadder," the TV version of "Jeeves and Wooster" (Fry played Jeeves to Laurie's Bertie Wooster), any of the "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" comedy series, or his roles in "Wilde" (as Oscar Wilde), "Peter's Friends" or "Gosford Park."

He's also made a documentary miniseries, "Stephen Fry in America," and has done voice work in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (as the Cheshire Cat) and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (narrating the film as the Book). He also is the reader for the British version of the "Harry Potter" audiobooks — and there is a raging debate in some quarters that opines he runs rings around the American reader, Jim Dale.