Martin Compston: Line of Duty star given odds to become next James Bond

Actor Martin Compston has been given odds of 50/1 to become the next James Bond, joining fellow Scottish thespians including Richard Madden and Sam Heughan on a bookies’ list of potential names to fill the iconic role.

Mr Compston, the Greenock-born Line of Duty star, has been given the quote by betting firm Skybet after being tipped by fans to take over from Daniel Craig.

Skybet’s top three favourites for the James Bond role are Tom Hardy at 10/3, James Norton at 7/2, and Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page at 4/1.

Richard Madden and Sam Heughan have both been given odds of 16-1, ahead Scottish acting peers Jack Lowden (25-1), Ewan McGregor (50-1), David Tennant and James McAvoy (both 100-1), and Gerard Butler (200-1).

Daniel Craig is set to hang up his Bond tuxedo after starring in No Time To Die, the latest instalment in the series. Picture: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Universal Pictures.

Additionally, several women appear on the list, including Jodie Comer (25-1), and Emilia Clarke and Margot Robbie (both 66-1), as well as Angelina Jolie (100-1). However, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has been quoted saying: “James Bond is a male character. I hope that there will be many, many films made with women, for women, by women, about women. I don't think we have to take a male character and have a woman portray him. So yes, I see him as male.”

The latest James Bond release No Time To Die sees Daniel Craig slip into the role for the final time, and prompting a flurry of speculation over who will succeed him. His first appearance came in 2006, as he starred alongside Eva Green and Mads Mikkelsen in the 23rd Bond film Casino Royale.

Mr Compston has recently been starring in BBC thriller Vigil, and is also set to appear in new Amazon Prime Video series The Rig. But he is perhaps best-known for Line of Duty, previously saying of his part in the series: “Steve Arnott has been the role of a lifetime and I feel very happy to have ownership of him. Nobody will ever know him better than me, and when I do that accent and put on that waistcoat in the morning, I can just feel him creeping into me, which is a great feeling.”

Would the Line of Duty star be a good fit for the Bond role? Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images.

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