The new James Bond could have been far sexier than the current incarnation, but it seems the Scotsman who was originally offered the role turned it down. Ewan McGregor told the producers of Casino Royale that he wasn’t interested in the part, despite the likely fantastic portrayal he would have given the part of 007.

The flick’s director, Martin Campbell, lamented Ewan’s decision: “I think he got another job or decided he didn’t want it.”

Ewan’s representatives state that the handsome Scotsman, who would have followed nicely in the steps of ‘guv’nor’ Sean Connery, worried that playing Bond would lead to typecasting and limit his future acting potential. Pierce Brosnan actually recommended that fellow Irishman Colin Farrell take the part, but the naughty boy said “I would not like to do it… they should find someone the audience has no history with.”

Sky News has published a list of forty actors who were rumoured to be in contention for the role of James Bond, and the attentions of yours truly rested immediately upon Colin Firth. The man who played Mister Darcy to perfection would be a perfect James Bond – debonair, stylish, distinguished, and as the central image below demonstrates, not afraid to get dirty.