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Phoebe Waller-Bridge to bring her brand of dry wit to Bond script

Phoebe Waller-Bridge – best known for confiding to the camera in the BBC’s hit series Fleabag – has been announced as one of the writers of the new Bond film.

She has become famous for creating emotionally complex women with razor sharp wit.

The tragicomic Fleabag, penned by the actress and based on a show she originated at the Edinburgh Fringe, became a sensation and the final episode of the second series was a pop culture event.

The other hit series she originated, Killing Eve, is based on Luke Jennings’s Codename Villanelle novella and has made a superstar out of British actress Jodie Comer, while co-star Sandra Oh has been showered with awards.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Ian West/PA)

Waller-Bridge’s first screenwriting credit was on the TV series Drifters, followed by Channel 4 series Crashing, which, like Fleabag, she starred in as well.

While she did not appear on screen in Star Wars spin-off Solo, her delivery of the lines of droid L3-37 made the character a fan favourite.

Now she will turn her hand to the script for Bond 25, alongside Hollywood heavyweight Scott Z Burns, who has written a string of box office hits including The Bourne Ultimatum, Contagion and Side Effects, as well as the highly anticipated film about the Panama Papers scandal, The Laundromat.

Waller-Bridge has reportedly been brought on board to add some comedy to the Bond script and it is the caustic wit of so many of her characters that has made her such a popular writer.

From Fleabag’s knowing retorts to Godmother’s snide put-downs and Villanelle’s acerbic sarcasm, she offers a dry but winning style of humour.

Bond 25, which does not yet have a title, will be released in UK cinemas in 2020.