With speculation running high at the moment, Mr Alan Partridge he is the latest public figure to state his position on who should be next James Bond.

In a new Q&A interview with The Guardian newspaper, the comic character played by English actor Steve Coogan was asked if he himself would accept the offer to play the famous spy if the opportunity presented itself.

“It wouldn’t happenhe replied.

“There’s a queue for the casting of 007. They pick an actor from one of the UK’s smaller constituents, then a non-British Commonwealth country and finally an Englishman – and repeat. Actor from a smaller part of the UK (Connery, Scotland), non-British actor (Lazenby, Australia), English (Moore, England). The series is over, here we go again: actor from the smallest part of the UK (Dalton, Wales), non-British actor (Brosnan, Ireland), English (Craig, England)Partridge argued.

“Well, you see, I couldn’t be the next Bond. It will be James Nesbitt (Northern Ireland), Ryan Gosling (Canada), then an Englishman. Assuming Nesbitt and Gosling make three movies each (one every three years), the earliest I could play the role would be 2041, when I’d be in my 80s. I will be very oldhe clarified.

“While I have ideas about how the role could be slightly rewritten to accommodate the secret agent’s mobility and bladder issues, even then I think it’s very, very unlikely that I’d be cast. Given all this? Not going to happen…probably not going to happenhe added.

Steve Coogan is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter, known for creating original characters.