"Geordie" to play the new 007?

British actor Daniel Craig has been tapped to fill the tux (left, Axel/Zuma Press photo). Although Torstar's Peter Howell refers to Craig as "largely unknown," I beg to differ. Daniel Craig played "Geordie" in the 1996 BBC drama series, "Our Friends in the North." He's definitely not unknown in the UK. I'll bet there are loads of Canadian fans too; the entire 9-part series ran on TVO at least twice.

The series followed four Newcastle friends from 1964-1995 and co-starred Christopher Ecclestone and Malcolm McDowell. I'm still kicking myself for neglecting to tape the whole thing; I always assumed it would be released on DVD but no such luck (at least not in Region 1 format). Right now, if you try a search for the series on Amazon.ca, it returns all 10 crappy seasons of "Friends" and then "North and South."