Would you like to be James Bond? As they head for an adventure in the Canadian wilderness, Sir Ranulph and Joseph Fiennes reveal they were both lined up to play 007. Here the two daredevils tell the story - and it will leave you shaken and stirred...

'Ran, you are a hero to me,’ says the actor Joseph Fiennes to his older cousin Sir Ranulph, tenderly. ‘Just to put that out there.’ They’re sitting together in the wilds of Canada, where ‘the world’s greatest living explorer’ – to quote The Guinness Book Of World Records – first led an expedition in 1971.

Sir Ranulph flips through photographs of himself from half a century ago, looking fit, tanned, young and hairy, and muses, ‘I think of that bloke – me, back then – as someone totally different, because I’m now deaf, not blind but getting that way, and into an age where my runs become shuffles. 'When I see these, it reminds me that in those days we thought we could do anything.’

It’s a touching moment from a two-part National Geographic documentary in which the 80-year-old explorer revisits the remote rivers and mountains of British Columbia. 

Back then he was leading an expedition to cross the territory by river for the first time; now he is in the company of his cousin Joseph, 53. The actor who starred in Shakespeare In Love and The Handmaid’s Tale has just finished playing football manager Gareth Southgate in Olivier-winning play Dear England at the National Theatre, but he’s clearly in awe of Sir Ranulph.

‘This trip gave us an opportunity not only to enjoy his exploits but also to reflect on human frailty,’ Joseph says when we three meet in London. Joseph is groomed in corduroy trousers and a black turtle neck, while Sir Ranulph wears a grey fleece and his white hair is rather wild. They do have two versions of the same face.

Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes (left) and actor Joseph Fiennes, who are third cousins once removed, are the focus of a two-part National Geographic documentary titled Fiennes Return To The Wild

The pair first got to know each other when they made a trip up the Nile five years ago for National Geographic, but this latest journey brought them even closer together, says Joseph. 

‘Ran began to open up about having to navigate another personal journey: his dealing with Parkinson’s disease which millions deal with, being so brave about it. I found it very poignant to listen to him. It was worth the trip in itself.’

Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born in 1944, four months after his father, a baronet, was killed in action in the Second World War. After failing his ­A-levels at Eton, he served for eight years in the British Army, including a spell in the SAS, then became an explorer. 

He worked alongside physician Dr Mike Stroud on daring challenges to the North and South Poles, and together they have raised millions for charity – although Ranulph admits that was all because of a telling-off from the man who is now King but was then Prince of Wales.

‘We went to his place to talk through an Arctic expedition and he asked, “Who are we raising money for?” I said, “Sir, we are not doing it for charity, we’re doing it to beat the Norwegians.” He said, “If I had known that, I wouldn’t have been your patron at all, for anything.” 

'So I said, “Well, who would you like us to raise money for?” On that occasion he chose Breakthrough Breast Cancer. We’ve now raised £19.8 million for UK charities, just because of that one remark at the beginning from Prince Charles.’

Sir Ranulph had a heart attack in 2003, spent three days in a coma and had a double heart bypass operation – but just four months later this extraordinary human ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. Aged 71, he completed the Marathon des Sables, the seven-day ultramarathon across the Sahara in extreme heat.

Not long after that, however, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a disease which affects movement, balance and brain function. He has not spoken about this much in public before, but now insists, ‘If my hand shakes I can look at it and say stop it, like you would do a dog. But I do get memory lapse.’

He now takes seven pills a day and has a special exercise regime. ‘You’ve got to be careful about balance. Normally you just put your foot down and don’t have to think, “Be careful.” I know three or four friends who have got Parkinson’s and have forgotten that you have got to treat walking with care.’

He starts to tell a story, then loses track. ‘This is the Parkinson’s. Memory can’t be trusted. Do you know the actor Michael J Fox? He got it when he was 29. One thing he thinks works well is swimming in cold water. I have spent my life trying to avoid getting cold, for good reason.’ 

The documentary sees 80-year-old Sir Ranulph (left) revisit the remote rivers and mountains of British Columbia, Canada, where he first led an expedition in 1971

Sir Ranulph holds up his left hand, which has the tips of all the fingers missing. His only sledge, carrying 70 days of food and supplies, fell into the sea and became trapped under ice during a solo trek to the North Pole in 2000 and he was forced to put his hand into the water to pull it out. 

The air temperature was -63°C, and Sir Ran suffered severe frostbite to his thumb and fingers. A surgeon in England insisted he let the damaged parts die before amputating, but Ranulph lost patience.

His wife Ginny, who planned his expeditions with him and was herself the first woman to receive a Polar Medal, which is awarded for outstanding achievements in polar research, said he was getting irritable. So Sir Ran hacked off his own fingers with a fretsaw. ‘He still has the tips,’ says Joseph incredulously in their new film, which shows the lumps of blackened flesh.

Joseph, an outdoorsy type himself, gets a glimpse of that kind of danger himself in the film when he abseils down a crevasse. ‘This is the one place Ran has been warning me never to get stuck,’ he says, but then slips and loses a glove. He’s about to reach into the icy water but remembers the amputation and lets it go. ‘Poor cousin Joe,’ says Sir Ran unsympathetically, laughing in his face.

There is real warmth between them, though. ‘We have got to know each other in the most extraordinary way,’ says Joseph. As an actor he finds it easy to express his emotions, but recognises that is a challenge for the older man. 

‘If you’re going to spend 90 days alone in extreme cold, you can’t be emotional. So for Ran to open up as he does in Canada is a huge feat. It’s like climbing Everest. Ran is incredibly brave in that sense.’

Sir Ran’s beloved Ginny died from stomach cancer in 2004, aged just 56, but she urged him to find another partner. He now lives with his second wife Louise and their 18-year-old daughter Elizabeth at his Exmoor farm. 

It’s clear Joseph means a lot to him. ‘I haven’t got brothers. I haven’t got a father because he was killed before I was born. So having a relationship with a male Fiennes has been important to me. It became quickly clear in here [he touches his heart] that Joe was a brother, a blood brother. That’s wonderful.’

Joseph says, ‘I lost my dad 20 years ago, so it’s lovely to have a Fiennes of a mature level that can stop me running into danger, but also to tap back into our shared DNA and history. It’s also lovely for me to remember my father through my connection with Ran.’ 

Sir Ran and Joseph’s father Mark shared a great-great-grandfather, which makes the pair third cousins once removed. Pretty distant for most of us, but the Fiennes have a strong sense of themselves as a clan. ‘I was only a year old when Ran was in Canada. I grew up hearing stories of this extraordinary cousin,’ says Joseph. ‘I had a dreamy, otherworldly image of Ran and his exploits.’

A young Sir Ranulph (centre) working with the army of the Sultan of Oman in the 1960s

Joseph Fiennes starred alongside Gwyneth Paltrow (pictured) in the 1998 film Shakespeare In Love

Mark Fiennes was a farmer and photographer whose other children include Joseph’s twin Jacob, a conservationist, and their older brother, actor Ralph. Did Joseph tell people that the explorer in the news was his cousin? ‘I probably kept it quiet. I just remember hearing my mother and father talking about Ran and being utterly intrigued. The first time we met was at a family reunion when I was in my late 20s.’

By then Joseph was being hailed as the next big thing in Hollywood after playing the lead in 1998’s Shakespeare In Love opposite Gwyneth Paltrow. He was offered a five-movie deal by Harvey Weinstein but turned it down because of the bullying tactics employed by the disgraced mogul, and his career dipped for a while. 

It’s taken off again recently with four seasons as the villainous patriarch, Commander Frederick Waterford, in The Handmaid’s Tale and that wildly successful run in Dear England, which explores the psychological and emotional impact Gareth Southgate had on his players. He lives on the island of Mallorca with his wife María Dolores Diéguez, a Swiss-Spanish model, and their two daughters.

The Canada trip took place before Dear England opened. And as he prepared to play Gareth Southgate, a leader whose team became heroes, Joseph was intrigued by his cousin’s version of heroism. ‘I really wanted to know what the driving force is,’ he says. ‘And I kind of get it: you’re away from the populace, you’re in nature at its most extraordinary. It’s kind of addictive.’

He faced his own fears by climbing a mountain and crossing a single-wire bridge with a huge drop below. ‘You take a deep breath and challenge your sense of fear. Everyone has their own benchmarks,’ says Joseph. ‘There’s something very powerful in the energy of the mountains. To go down a crevasse and touch ice that is millennia old, where no one has been before, felt like a blessing and a privilege.’

Since he was once linked with the role of James Bond, Joseph is intrigued by the story that Ranulph also came close to being 007. ‘I got down to the last six,’ says Ran. This was in the early 70s, when Cubby Broccoli was looking for a successor to Sean Connery. Ran was gaining a reputation from his expeditions. 

‘Ginny and I had just married and were in Scotland in the middle of nowhere but a postman found us. The letter was from the William Morris Agency, saying, “Would you like to be James Bond?”’ 

Sir Ran had his mind set on leading members of the Royal Scots Greys through Canada, but… ‘That depended on me going down to the Army PR office in Westminster and persuading them I was the man for the job, but there was no way I could afford the fare. So I said, “There’s no way I’ll be an actor, never mind Bond, but the letter says they’ll pay the tickets I need.” First class, actually.’

Sir Ranulph Fiennes pictured in 2005 with his second wife Lady Louise, after returning to Britain following a failed attempt to climb Mount Everest

But he got further than he’d anti­cipated. ‘When I heard I was one of the last six I thought, “Oh well, maybe I could be Bond.” I don’t know why I thought that, I’m ashamed I did. So by the time I saw Cubby I’d been practising in front of a mirror, trying to be an actor. Making my face do things instead of not doing them.’

Joseph laughs. ‘I wish I’d known that back in drama school. All that method stuff? God!’

So what happened? ‘They were sitting in this expensive hotel room,’ says Sir Ran. ‘I went in ready to say or do something but Cubby looked at the director and said, “What have you chosen him for? Look at his hands, he’s like a farmer.” And that was that. I didn’t get to be Bond. But I did get to lead the expedition to Canada.’

Joseph was touted as a possible 007 when Pierce Brosnan bowed out, but his big brother Ralph actually had a conversation with Cubby and Barbara Broccoli. He went on to play Bond’s boss M. ‘They’re looking for a new Bond now,’ says Joseph.

‘Are they? I think I’ll suggest my cousin,’ says Sir Ran enthusiastically.

Joseph is probably too old now, though, and he looks over with love and admiration at his cousin, this extraordinary man who has done things that would frighten even 007, but is now taking on the challenge of Parkinson’s. ‘Oh no, Ran,’ he says. ‘If any of us was ever Bond, you’re the one with all the credentials.’

• Fiennes Return To The Wild begins on Sunday 26 May at 8pm on National Geographic.