Bill Bailey says fan campaign may have cost him The Hobbit role

Bill Bailey has said a fan petition to cast him in an iconic franchise may well have backfired.

The support from fans, however, did not work and Bailey was not cast in the Hobbit trilogy, which spanned three films from 2012 to 2014 and starred Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins.

Bailey, 59, was asked about the petition in a new interview with The Guardian.