Young James Bond adaptation confirms Blackadder and Spooks favourites in key roles

The cast of Young Bond: Silverfin has expanded, with Tim McInnerny and Miranda Raison among the actors confirmed for key roles.

The upcoming audio drama, which is based on the first novel in Charlie Higson’s the Young Bond book series and explores the upbringing of the teenage James Bond, is set to be released on 29 October.

McInnerny (Blackadder) will voice Uncle Max, while Raison (Spooks) will star as Aunt Charmian.

Other new additions to the cast include William Hope (Sherlock Holmes) as Lord Hellebore, Paterson Joseph (Peep Show) as the Nazi scientist Dr Perseus Friend, Lucy Bond as Madame Ouspenskaya, Timothy Bentinck (The Archers) as Sergeant White, and Penelope Rawlins as Alfie Kelly.

These new additions join join previously announced cast members Isaac Rouse as James Bond, Charlotte McBurney as Wilder Lawless, Higson himself as Mr Merriot, Miriam Margolyes as Cleek MacSawney, Harry Marcus as Red Kelly, and Christopher Nathan as George Hellebore.

Writer and director Barnaby Edwards said: “It is a cliche – but one with a firm basis in fact – that 90 per cent of directing is getting the cast right. It was hugely liberating to be told by IFPL that there was no pressure to cast ‘names’, I should just find the best actors I could for each of the roles.

"I’d be lying if I said I was unaware of the fame of the guest actors I was casting, but I wanted them for their talent – and they don’t come much more talented than Tim McInnerny, Miranda Raison, William Hope and Paterson Joseph.

“Miranda Raison and Tim McInnerny both have the ability to produce perfect period voices without it sounding stilted and both are tremendous at creating fully-fledged human beings with emotional flaws, depths and heroic steel.

“William Hope – famous for playing the vacillating Gorman in Aliens – worked wonders with Lord Hellebore and I can’t wait for listeners to hear his scene in a fog-bound marsh. It’s like something out of Beowulf! And I’ve always been impressed by Paterson Joseph’s ability to create vivid and richly colourful characters, but could he do the kind of German accent the role required: light, questing, playful, menacing in its seeming banality?

"A single WhatsApp voice note convinced me he could. He’s the perfect Dr Friend!”

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Producer Robert Valentine added: “One of the constant pleasures of working for Big Finish is the calibre of cast we get to work with. William Hope was our instant first choice to play Lord Randolph Hellebore.

"We were delighted that he was free and eager to play a Bond villain. Miranda Raison truly is perfect casting as Charmian Bond; she brings a certain period class with her, really evoking the interwar period, and she plays beautifully in her scenes with Isaac.

“Tim McInnerny, an actor I simply adore, brings so much to the role of Max Bond, a man any boy would want in an uncle; he has a melancholy, a weariness, but also so much affection and love.

"Asking Paterson Joseph to play Dr Perseus Friend was Barnaby's idea, and I was instantly behind it one hundred percent. Paterson brings a chilling glee to Dr Friend, and a deceptively reassuring bedside manner that belies his sadistic heart.”

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