What if Michael Billington was cast James Bond

Michael Billington is said to have tried out for the role of James Bond on five different occassions OHMSS, LALD, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only (in which he came close to being cast) and Octopussy. He was also Cubby main choice for the role for LALD if Roger Moore wasn't cast.
Here's how the scenario would have played out:

As Connery himself said to scriptwriter Tom Mankiewicz: “All they can offer me is money, boyo.” Thus, Broccoli and Saltzman had to deal with the annoying – and potentially deadly – prospect of changing actors yet again, all while United Artists maintained his pressure regarding hiring a consolidated American star. And just as UA approached West, Reynolds, Eastwood and more, so did the producers seriously entertained Julian Glover and, more seriously The Saint’s Roger Moore. Why Moore wasn’t ultimately offered the role remains unclear, though the rumor that Broccoli and Moore clashed over the latter’s appearance has been a persistent one within EON Productions. Amidst all this confusion, Broccoli had a name in mind: Billington himself, who not only seemed to fit the part, but was also young enough to play Bond for a while and lacking the clout that a more established actor would have brought. “We don’t need a diva”, Saltzman agreed. Billington jumped for joy when he was asked to do a screen test with Caroline Seymour for Live and Let Die, and by all accounts he aced it. Thus Billington became the third James Bond, starting his tenure with a positive, if lukewarm reception.

Although the actor was enthusiastic about playing the secret agent – whom he envisioned as the epitome of charm and suaveness -, his early years in the role proved to be very unfortunate. Not only because of the growing feud between Saltzman and Broccoli, and the eventual forceful departure of the former, but because of the material Billington was given to work with. He clashed strongly with Tom Mankiewicz in the course of his first two outings on account of the tone – resisting the campier aspects previously introduced in DAD – and the resulting and inconsistent performance led many to dismiss him as a pale imitation of Connery, toupee and all. Still, a three picture contract was a three picture contract, and Billington dutifully plowed through a lukewarm success (LALD) and a disaster (TMWTGG) before stumbling into a reasonably strong outing in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) which brought the franchise back from the brink of death. At last, James Bond seemed to be back in force.

Having promised For Your Eyes Only at the end of the TSWLM – postponing Moonraker yet again on account of its plot feeling dated -, Broccoli gathered his writing team (Mankiewicz, Richard Maibaum and Christopher Wood) and assigned them the by now familiar of creating a new adventure without much Fleming material to go on, only having a short story to work with and the instruction to go for another action filled adventure Thus the project underwent several different outlines, from Mankiewicz’s proposal to base it around the theft of a space shuttle, to Maibaum’s push for adapting the plot of Risico and other Fleming short stories, and even an outside pitch from celebrated writer Ronald Hardy, who suggested a villain set on causing an ecological disaster. Eventually, they settled on expanding the Mankiewicz outline, while cannibalizing as much as they could from the original short story.

For his part, Billington, having feared before TSWLM that the Bond character was on the verge of death, felt invigorated after finding long awaited success, and didn’t hesitate to sign on for his fourth film. Still only 36, he figured that if EON could keep up momentum, he might even get to break Connery’s record. After initial plans for a joint Franco-British production fell through, EON signed up James Mason as the main villain, and came close to casting Sylvia Kristel as the heroine before controversy over her previous roles led Broccoli to bump her off as a secondary Bond girl. Thus, the cast was rounded up with Jaclyn Smith – of Charlie’s Angels fame – as the main Bond girl, and Anthony Smith, Louis Jourdan and a returning Richard Kiel on supporting roles. Thus, filming took place between late 1978 and early 1979 on India, Nepal, England, Mexico and Guatemala. Wanting to ramp up the eventual appeal of the film to younger viewers, EON continued to double doubt on the youth angle – already possessing a young Bond and a young director – by approaching 20 year-old English singer Kate Bush, fresh from a rather successful debut album. Although Bush came close to turning an offer down on account of her plans to go on tour, she ended up performing the title song “For Your Eyes Only” to considerable critical and commercial success.
Billington reached the height of his stardom as Bond and his best personal moment, consolidated in the mind of audiences as more than a Connery-clone, a worthy heir.