Jamie Dornan's not dreaming about being the next James Bond

Although he’s been tipped as a possible successor to Daniel Craig in the role of 007, the Co Down man thinks the hype about the possibility of him being asked to play the legendary British Secret Service agent is “kind of hilarious.”

“It’s just something I’ve given zero thought to,” he said. “I’ll sometimes have my mates text me saying they’ve put a bet on me and telling me what my odds are and I think it’s kind of hilarious.

“I think it’s dangerous to ever say ‘I want to play this role or that role’ because the reality is it probably won’t happen and that leads to disappointment and I don’t know why you’d set yourself up like that. I’d rather just go along and see what happens. Anything can happen.”

While he’s not short of film and TV work, Jamie says he’d be keen to do something very different – possibly a comedy or even a musical.

“My favourite thing about being an actor is the diversity of it. From a very early age I knew that I don’t want to sit behind a desk of any description. I feel like if you do the same role again and again that would be the closest thing to doing a desk job,” he added.

• Jamie will return to the small screen next week in the BBC2 drama Death And Nightingales. The first episode is due to air on November 28 at 9pm.