Idris Elba almost died making Netflix film

British actor Idris Elba, one of the favourites to be the next James Bond, has revealed how he almost died while shooting Beasts Of No Nation, when he slipped near a waterfall in Ghana.

The 43-year-old actor, who plays warlord Commandant in the Netflix film, admitted he had a lucky escape when his foot slipped off a rock and the branch he held on to snapped.

“I nearly died. I was doing this scene – we decided to do this waterfall scene where all these child soldiers were walking behind this massive waterfall,” Elba recalled on The Jonathan Ross Show.

“Now in the setup of that, the stunt co-ordinator says, ‘Listen everyone, this is a waterfall, that’s a 90, 100 foot drop down there and the ground is very slippery, just be careful!’

“I put my foot on this rock just to hang out and chill out while they were setting up and as I’m doing that it’s slippery, obviously. I slip … I put my hand on this tree – it’s not a tree, it’s a branch. It snaps and I go literally about six feet before I go bang over and I got caught by the security guy!”

The Hackney-born actor, who found fame in US series The Wire and has starred in Marvel’s Thor films and won a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of late South African leader Nelson Mandela.