James Bond & Friends

How will the music choices – and late changes – affect No Time To Die? This week we recap all of the music news hurriedly released after the press got wind of both composer Hans Zimmer and title-song artist Billie Eilish at work on No Time To Die. We talk about the integration of the title song with the score, plus the lacklustre attempts to do so on SPECTRE and Skyfall; the young age of Shirley B...

How will 2020 be remembered by Bond fans? This first episode of a new decade looks forward to what we can expect from a busy year of Bond - plus a number of question-marks that hang over the year and the future of the franchise. We discuss the marketing campaign for No Time To Die, the anticipation of the release, the key announcements to come (composer, albeit with Zimmer’s shop now looking more...

Reflecting on the people the James Bond franchise lost in 2019. In this end-of-year episode, we look back over 2019 and the people we lost from the James Bond franchise. From lesser-known names to world-famous stars, we reflect on their roles in the series and their careers in general. The recording took place on December 20th in the USA and Spain. James Page is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the...

Is James Bond a good cook? This week Edward Biddulph returns to the podcast for a special Mission Debrief episode all about the food of Bond. We discuss Bond’s heroic consumption of eggs, the novelty of an avocado in the 1950s, strange savoury desserts, Fleming (and consequently Bond’s) passion for rich French-style cuisine, touring Europe like 007, Bond novels as a travelogue, his kitchen and sin...

Could Fleming's second novel be adapted faithfully in the 21st century? This episode we consider how Daniel Craig's reboot of the series could have continued with a faithful adaptation of Ian Fleming's second novel Live And Let Die to follow up the modern update of Casino Royale. Often easily waved away as an outdated story with race issues and bygone attitudes, we take a close look at how the ess...

What can we learn from the No Time To Die trailer? What might be the reaction of a wider audience?  This week we assemble a large panel to dissect the No Time To Die teaser trailer that debuted on 4th December 2019. Each panelist offers their hot take to the first good look at the 25th James Bond film and we all concede this is no mere teaser trailer. Then we jump into the minutiae - dissecting th...

Has the creative team written themselves into a cul de sac? This episode we continue our round-up of all the latest news and interviews for No Time To Die since principal photography wrapped, digging in to some of the more contentious issues that have popped up in recent weeks. Along the way, we discuss an MIA composer, underscored scenes, Kitty Galore, bad dubbing options, a BMW switcheroo, retir...

What's been happening since No Time To Die wrapped photography?  This episode we round up all the latest news and interviews for No Time To Die since principal photography wrapped, and welcome newcomer John Clark (AKA HaphazardStuff) to the panel. Along the way we discuss Daniel Craig's insistence that he's happy to be James Bond, a throwaway joke that enraged some fans, an emerging publicity camp...

How much Bond continuity is successful? How much is necessary? This episode we consider the problem of continuity in a 57 year-old film franchise. We speculate why the Daniel Craig era leaned so heavily on connections to the past and wonder what could have happened to poor Sylvia Trench. Along the way we stumble on abandoned continuity opportunities, James Bond in a retirement village, alternate u...

How did the character of Moneypenny evolve from page to screen? In light of the news that Naomie Harris has suggested an independent Moneypenny adventure, we delve into the character of M’s long-serving secretary and the other women of the MI6 offices – both in Fleming’s work and the film adaptations. We discuss the way the characters of Loelia Ponsonby, Mary Goodnight, and Miss Moneypenny merged...

It is one of the world's largest collection of James Bond posters, and it's about to go under the hammer at auction on November 5th. Who better to chat about it than the man himself, Adam Carter-Jones, and the poster consultant for the auction Mike Bloomfield. We discuss how the collection started, some of the rarest and oddball items in the 460+ lots, personal favourites, and how the poster colle...

We asked 100 James Bond fans... Taking a break from our usual discussion format, we play Family Feud (or Family Fortunes, depending on where you're from) with Universal Experts and Team Oddjob to see who can best guess the results of the top 100 answers from an MI6 survey of James Bond fans. Play along at home and see how many of the top answers you can guess. Who will walk off with the star prize...

How do the films most faithful to Fleming stack up against the best original adventures?  The panel selects their favourite film from the franchise that is closest to the Ian Fleming source material and - conversely - picks out their best wholly original adventure and we see how the two shortlists compare against each other in a theoretical boxset battle. Along the way, we credit Connery for his c...

Does the scale of the villain's plot affect the quality of the adventure?  We explore a hypothesis that the effectiveness of a James Bond film is related to the scale and stakes of the villain's plot. Along the way we discover a SPECTRE call centre, a firmware update to ATAC, MI6's station in Singapore doing overtime, Judi Dench's air miles, Bolivian oil changes, and why not just leave Scaramanga...

Which two pictures make the best double feature? We explore the history of Bond double bills before pitching our ultimate double features to screen in our imaginary picture house. Our selections are designed to showcase some interesting tone, thematic or other connection amongst the 24 official films to date. Along the way we discover Frankenstein Moore, the odd pairing of non-Bond and Bond films,...

How is America treated in the James Bond series? We kick off this week talking about the use of American locations in the James Bond novels and films, and quickly get detoured in to a deeper discussion about how the lense of Bond bends the relationship between the UK and the US through distortions and battles of power, culture, and sex. Along the way, we stumble upon rogue palm trees, 2 am commute...

Who should cover a Bond song? We draft in new artists to perform cues for an imaginary 'Shaken And Stirred' album for the 2010s. With only our regular panelists' suspect musical taste and Q The Music's Warren Ringham to guide us, we make the case for some of our favourite performers to have a crack at a Bond song. Along the way Ben and David snipe each others' picks, and we stumble on Burt Bachara...

Why do the origins of characters have to be explained? In part two of our recording with Joseph Darlington, Head of Section at Being James Bond, we cover some recent 007 news not related to Bond 25 and answer questions from listeners using the hashtag #askbond. Along the way, we stumble across the return of a non-biodegradable nemesis, strange audiences, speedy run-times, rogue audio effects, fake...

What's in a name?  We welcome Joseph Darlington, Head of Section at Being James Bond, to the panel as we discuss the Bond 25 title drop 'No Time To Die.' Announced without much fanfare on an otherwise quiet Tuesday, we discuss how the new title fits in with the series. We also reveal the first news about the teaser trailer and what we can expect to see soon! Along the way we stumble across old fon...

How much money does a Bond film really cost to make? With the news that one of Bond 25's distribution partners Annapurna is having some money troubles, we dive deep into the murky waters of the business of the movies, how much films really cost, and who pays for them. Ajay shares his professional expertise on film financing and Bill recounts the history of United Artists at the start of the Bond s...

How have Bond’s key allies translated from page to screen? Observing the passing of David Hedison - two time Felix Leiter - we note how he became the first man to return to the role some 10 years later with the long-serving ally’s pivotal role in ‘Licence to Kill’. We continue by discussing Leiter and Bond’s relationship and how the re-casting has lead to some inconsistent characterisation. Along...

In space, can you hear the James Bond screenwriters scream? Space has been a recurring element in the James Bond film series, appearing in 7 adventures so far, and it was almost 8! As the 50th anniversary of the moon landings is celebrated, we discuss how 007 on the big screen was influenced by the real-world space race and the bets producers took on future events. We are left with just one questi...

How much James Bond history is left to be discovered? Bill recounts his recent trip to the Lilly Library in Indiana where he looked at one of Ian Fleming's early Casino Royale manuscripts and shares some of the changes made to the final novel. As Formula 1 celebrated its 1,007th Grand Prix we look back at Bond's motor racing connections over the years and Ben reveals the story of the Aston Martin...

How has fandom changed over the years? It's so secret that we neglect to mention the name of the event! Mark and Calvin recount their amazing day at Secret Cinema's Casino Royale show (spoiler-free) and we ponder what other Bond films would make great interactive experiences. We also debate the current state of Bond fandom in 2019 and how things have changed over the past 20 years. At the end, dis...

Who can defend the indefensible? We experiment with a new format for this episode where each guest takes a turn to 'defend the indefensible' and make their case for an unpopular opinion in the James Bond universe. Will anyone have their minds changed? We tackle changing the shooting order of the early films for better continuity, under-appreciation of a much-maligned Bond girl, exploring just how...