The rot set in with the casting of Daniel Craig. Things had been going a little haywire since the late 1980s, when the producers first caved into the non-existent popular demand for political correctness. But being the 1980s, they interpreted that to mean people would like to see beautiful ladies with big chests occasionally firing a gun (Hell, yeah!). Then along came Pierce Brosnan and things returned to their campy natural order. “I thought Christmas only came once a year,” etcetera, etcetera.

But Craig was all wrong for the part and signalled the intention of the moviemakers to turn Bond into Raymond Chandler without the laughs. They fail to pull it off because the pressure to sell theatre tickets means they have to betray their own vision. So, on the one hand we have Bond going to psychiatrists, emoting, feeling pain, getting angry, breaking fingers, pulling out a man’s spleen with his teeth, yada yada. On the other hand, we have him leaping 30 foot chasms, turning cars upside down, or sinking half of Venice. Through it all there’s the mawkish “family” of MI6, headed by Judi “Brave But Fragile” Dench. Bernard Lee’s “M” was a gruff Head Boy. Dench is a prissy school mistress with a crush on one of her pupils – Grazia Magazine’s idea of a strong woman…………….

Benedict’s performance in Star Trek 2 may open more doors for him, although personally I’d like him to be the next Dr Who.

What do you think about Benedict Cumberpatch as the next Bond?
I think he would be great and has expressed enthusiasm for the role.

May Daniel Craig’s antithesis of Bond come to an end soon.

Best regards, John Strickler