{"id":741749,"date":"2026-08-18T10:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T10:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741749\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T10:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T10:24:11","slug":"bbc-drama-star-says-james-bond-needs-to-stay-as-he-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741749\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC drama star says James Bond \u2018needs to stay as he is\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nicholas Pinnock, the actor known for roles in and the ABC legal series For Life and the recent BBC<\/a> drama Two Weeks in August, has offered his thoughts on the next James Bond.<\/p>\n

Speculation has ramped up in recent weeks over who is set to take on the famous spy role<\/a>, with the next Bond film already in pre-production<\/a>; the previous actor to play 007, Daniel Craig, made his final outing in 2021\u2019s No Time To Die.<\/p>\n

Pinnock, a London-born actor of Jamaican descent, suggested to the Radio Times<\/a> that the character ought to stay true to his original cultural background \u2013 comparing Bond with BA Baracus, the character iconically played by Mr T in the hit series The A Team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some roles that need to stay as they are,\u201d Pinnock said. \u201cIf Mr T were to change into someone of European descent tomorrow, there would be absolute outrage. And I can understand why, because he\u2019s an iconic figure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Craig as James Bond (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up with James Bond looking and acting a certain way,\u201d he continued. \u201cI don\u2019t want it to change. You go to watch a James Bond movie, you know that James Bond\u2019s going to be this English, Scottish or Irish guy with a slick accent, with kick-arse moves, who gets all the ladies. Great! I want him to stay like that. I don\u2019t think changing him and ticking a box is the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Pinnock also emphasised the need for studios to fund other similar blockbusters that front actors from different backgrounds \u2013 mentioning Idris Elba and Dev Patel, two actors who were once tipped to take over as 007.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they put posters up tomorrow saying \u2018008\u2019 in the same font, everybody would be at the cinema, they wouldn\u2019t question it and they would love it,\u201d Pinnock said. \u201cAnd it could be me. It could be Idris Elba, it could be Dev Patel. It could be anybody of non-European descent and it would be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NicholasNicholas Pinnock in ‘Two Weeks in August’ (Various Artists Ltd\/BBC\/Robert Viglasky)<\/p>\n

Elba was long rumoured to be in the running to take over from Craig, although the Luther star, now 53, has since counted himself out.<\/p>\n

Currently, the person most hotly tipped to become the next Bond is Jack Lowden, the Scottish actor known for roles in the Apple TV+ spy series Slow Horses and Christopher Nolan\u2019s wartime blockbuster Dunkirk.<\/p>\n

Podcaster and author Richard Osman claimed on The Rest is Entertainment that he had heard Lowden is being \u201cstrongly considered\u201d for the part, admitting: \u201cIt is definitively not a \u2018he\u2019s definitely got it\u2019 thing. He is definitely being strongly considered. I think he’d be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other prominent contender at present seems to be Callum Turner, the actor who can be seen this month in the romcom One Night Only.<\/p>\n

Pinnock can next be seen in the Sky boxing drama Fightland, premiering on Sky Atlantic at 9pm on Thursday 27 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-741749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}