Victoria Coren Mitchell thinks Bond is a terrible spy - Room 101: Series 4 Episode 6 - BBC

[@Statsy10]

I can’t believe that she didn’t mention that James Bond goes around on missions telling people he is James Bond. I never went to spy school but I’m guessing that the lesson on day one probably covered not throwing your name around.

[@chrisst8922]

He can also walk into any bar in the world and not only does the barman know his name but even what he drinks.

[@TyrannosavageRekt]

This does depend though on whether or not the name is his birthname or a codename.

[@atomosvrial1708]

I mean, is keeping the same codename a good idea? Its generaly frowned apon to keep the same password and people with guns dont recognise you based on your password lol.

[@TyrannosavageRekt]

@@atomosvrial1708 Oh, for sure. There's definitely still a hole in that "theory" haha.

[@atomosvrial1708]

@@TyrannosavageRekt I even think at some points the villains outright say " I've been expecting you mr bond" you aren't meant to expect a spy lol

[@Aethelhald]

She forgot to mention that he gets captured by the bad guys on literally every mission he's ever assigned to and only survives because they choose not to kill him.

[@ericlayton8888]

Not to mention enormous levels of property damage

[@pjotrtje0NL]

And usually tell him Bond in advance what their plan ultimately is!

[@danieldravot341]

And the super criminals he encounters never seem to learn from their predecessors. If you don’t kill him now, and you opt to take him with you on your caper, he’ll find a twig, a blade of grass and half a cat’s eye marble, and defeat you with them, all while having his way with your no-longer loyal girlfriend.

[@Aethelhald]

@@danieldravot341 Exactly. Bond is a terrible secret agent - one of the worst to have ever existed. The only reason he's successful is because the bad guys are even dumber than he is.

[@scorpionz44]

the movie is more of a story of Bond's biggest and hardest missions. Its not so much a day in the life

[@ahobbit1273]

Now I just want a James Bond movie where Victoria Coren Mitchell is the villain and beats him handily.

[@gordonng8090]

@@madisntit6547 Don't lie. We all want to see that.

[@JoeBlac]

"Soooo, do you want to talk?" "No Mr Mitchell, I expect you to lay there meekly and squeal."

[@Nosmo90]

@@JoeBlac Normally, I'd question the use of the word 'lay' in this context, but since James Bond is the topic being discussed it actually fits! xD

[@PerovNigma]

Beats him through superior intellect, or just literally beats him up?

[@johanmalm8378]

A 5-10 min long movie?

[@Phlebas]

Okay, I'm starting to think that David and Victoria Mitchell might actually be the same person.

[@barbaralatham5107]

Phlebas I was SO happy when I found out they were married. I just adore David and was so pleased that he found such a lovely, beautiful, intelligent wife!

[@sweiland75]

It's quite frightening, especially because Victoria is a very sexy woman

[@Phlebas]

Ji Fan Well, you sound like a pleasant person to be around.

[@JiFan]

But of course! :)

[@slashingraven]

+Barbara Latham David Mitchell and Victoria Coren getting together is one of the great triumphs of our age.

[@muskatDR]

"Whats you name?" "Bond. James Bond" "Aha youre that famous spy from britain arent ya? Ill have to imprison you on the suspicion of espionage without our governments permission and knowledge. But due to your history and countless gadgets that should be enough" "Oh crud..."

[@WalterLiddy]

Exactly, except for the "Oh crud" part. His aim in revealing who he is, is to be caught so that he can bust out and kill the bad guy at the same time.

[@TheAlps36]

I think my favourite line has to be JW Pepper recognising him in Thailand saying 'you're that English secret agent from England!'

[@SteveCowlishaw]

"Whats your name?" "Bond, James Bond" "Oh, the spy from England?" "A spy? I wish! no, it's actually a common name like Smith and Jones, I'm here on holiday,.. have you ever heard of a Scottish spy? He'd stick out like a sore thumb" "Ah yeah, I never actually thought of it that way" "Heh, right? Anyway, would you like to have unprotected sex with me?" "Sure!" The end. James Bond is dumb, I agree with her. It was all camp tongue in cheek shit with naff combat, villains and plot, they saw this and tried to make it more like Jason Bourne with shaky cam and stories that tie into each other actually making it even more terrible than it originally was. Even though I liked the old Bond movies! At least they could've said James Bond is just a codename.. but nah they've told us about his childhood, he and Dr. Evil was brought up by Nigel Powers in Scotland.

[@elchasai]

david mitchell is a lucky man

[@kevinphilipsanders]

elchasai have you heard of Sigmund Freud’s “Oedipus complex”.

[@shaunpearson7905]

fuck off

[@RealityCheck6T9]

She may have taken his surname but she kept her own so not that lucky

[@mtracy244]

I could watch and listen to David Mitchell anytime but VCM not so much, because her voice is relentless🤕.

[@unclejoeoakland]

@@RealityCheck6T9 yeah I bet that when he isn't enjoying small talk with someone who can actually converse on his level or else making out with someone in the full flower of womanhood, he's absolutely kicking himself because she doesn't insist on being named in TV credits as "Mrs. David Mitchell." Because that wouldn't be weird.

[@luisfrau9810]

I like the way James Bond only finds out what he needs to know by getting captured and inducing the villain to lay it all out just before attempting to kill Bond who, of course, will miraculously escape knowing everything.

[@siennas3186]

omg she has just said everything i ever thought about bond!

[@davethehostage]

Neil Mcintosh Is that supposed to be a problem?

[@davethehostage]

If someone like you took me seriously, I would consider it a devastating character flaw on my part.

[@thedragonsnortchannel2609]

I'm probably one of a handful of people on this earth who's never seen a Bond film in my life. I think part of it is just the fact that he's made to be "irresistible", as Vicky put it, for the ladies, and yet there's just something very stoic about him that makes me resist watching a film with him in it.

[@pcbassoon3892]

I've never seen one either! I want to watch one now so I can see what a bad spy he is.

[@houndsofroses3727]

The way she rants is just like David xxxx awwww xxx

[@dlamb2840]

Victoria is just the bizz. I think she’s just lovely.

[@bipolarminddroppings]

She plays poker, she loves useless trivia, she reads constantly and she hates James Bond. Love this woman.

[@mikeymike42]

And she got the heavies 🏋🏻

[@NotAHero98]

My love of the Bond series doesn't come from the character, more from the films themselves, and I couldn't disagree with anything she said here.

[@Alastair510]

She is wrong about the card playing. He is extensively tutored in one of the books.

[@tc98826]

For the most part she's right and that's because Bond films stopped concentrating on good writing. There are exceptions - World is Not Enough is a brilliant spy film where Bond actually figures stuff out using espionage.

[@draugr7693]

I like to imagine that James Bond is actually the guy they send in to distract the enemies while the real spies do their work.

[@cjknotty]

I'm with Victoria on this!

[@tony.h321]

Yup, noticed while re-watching some of the old Bond movies that he was usually pretty sloppy when it came to a lot of things, including the actual "espionage". Besides using the same name, sticking out like a sore thumb, and constantly being distracted by pretty women, 80-90% of the time he would walk straight into traps, and/or sneak into the enemy base and get immediately captured. Basically his greatest "skill" was being incredibly lucky 😋 classic stuff nonetheless.

[@gordonng8090]

The male, less potent Domino

[@ankavoskuilen1725]

I would like to have the skill being incredibly lucky :)

[@solitaryman777]

@@ankavoskuilen1725 given the choice between being lucky or being good...

[@xs10086]

Cohen is an excellent poker player, in case of any didn't know.

[@sweiland75]

I'll tell you something you don't know: her name is Coren, not Cohen.

[@ShipsKat]

+sweiland75 lol

[@Minecraftrok999]

MTX157 well it won't ever get this money the leave campaign promised, lol.

[@WalterLiddy]

Poker in movies, like chess, is never played well, because of a combination of the fact that the writers don't know how to play well, and even if they did for dramatic purposes they need it all to come down to a 'surprise' move that really doesn't exist in either game.

[@kleytoncarlos1]

YF Zhang just saw a video of her winning 400000 pounds

[@cuebj]

Agreed! He's not really spy at all. He's a hit man, agent provocateur, or something like that

[@aikighost]

Yes he's actually an under cover black ops operative rather than a spy.

[@neilreading3552]

Yes, a smug prick.

[@mortdewerewolfe691]

@@aikighost Except he isn't undercover.

[@mikefule]

Not really a spy, a Secret Service agent. Spying is a very small part of what he does. However, Ian Fleming referred to him as a spy.

[@flankspeed]

To be fair: if you are the world's most famous spy... you are the worst.

[@samhaigh5355]

Not an avid bond fan but everything Victoria's just said does make you question his skills as a spy, plus Frank's line at the end would have been great in one of the films.

[@Monkey80llx]

She had me at wazzocck!...nailed it at ‘special pens..’ and i’m still watching the rest! 😆🥰

[@pcbassoon3892]

What does wazzock mean?

[@jessicalee333]

That BLOKE! (if you haven't, watch Mitchell and Webb's "Friends of Moneypenny" sketch, it's one of their best)

[@NelsonRealTime]

My life would be complete with a lady like her.....she is absolutely delightful.

[@kevinphilipsanders]

Premier Billing Inc heard of Sigmund Freud’s “Oedipus complex”.

[@gordonng8090]

@@kevinphilipsanders Yes I have

[@solitaryman777]

You would have to be as driven as her. Not necessarily doing the same things, but you can't be a schlub.

[@sarahclydesdale5035]

I love Victoria, she is absolutely right!

[@tinaperez7393]

This shows Victoria and David Mitchell are a perfect match. Felt like I was listening to one of David's rants.😂👍

[@AutomaticDuck300]

Bond films used to be a laugh and deliberately ridiculous for entertainment value, then they decided to go all serious and it's considerably less entertaining. But seriously, what kind of a spy uses his real name everywhere?

[@yesdcotchin]

LemonZeppelin there's a fan theory that each Bond isn't the same person, but that it's a code name used in the British secret service. Still, everyone would know it's a spy name so it would still be stupid. I don't buy it

[@JohnD640]

-and they know him in every restaurant, every club and he drives a silver Aston Martin and what is he? A SECRET AGENT!

[@cov9290]

Dee G I believe most fan theories are stupid and over analysed

[@mortdewerewolfe691]

I once saw an interview on a series David Shayler ( ex SIS ) did for Bravo where he interviewed an undercover FBI agent who said she always used her real name as she didn't want to risk someone coming up to her in the street saying ''Hi'' & panicking ''Am I Sue? Alice? Brenda? Michelle?'' ( see also Greville Wynne ). But then, Bond is nonsense.

[@solitaryman777]

@@yesdcotchin like Jason Bourne, and supposedly there were several as a concept. It doesn't matter what your identity is when you're a tool for the state.

[@yanikg-force]

Yep. After watching this video, I now have the proof that like attracts like. It's no coincidence that David and Victoria are together. No surprise there.

[@davids3539]

The thing is he's not even a spy. He's supposed to be a secret agent, but to make things more interesting he's also some sort of ambassador.

[@oliverholmes-gunning5372]

In fairness, Bond isn't really a spy. He works as an investigator, an assassin and a saboteur, but he is almost never sent undercover to collect sensitive information from an enemy (except in From Russia With Love), which is the definition of a spy. If you think about it, in every single film except From Russia With Love (where he does work as a spy), Licence To Kill (where he goes rogue) and Casino Royale (where he is used as both an assassin and a saboteur) Bond's primary objective is to investigate a crime or suspicious person.

[@lastnameavailable326]

James Bond, international murder-detective. Oh. He investigates murders, then? No, he mostly investigates financial malfeasance. And he murders people.

[@digdougedy]

If they made a film about a really secret, secret agent, no one would work out which character was actually James Bond.

[@nathanadler1452]

They did, it was called Knocked Up. No-one knew about the subtext of international espionage as it wasn't brought up because it was classified, they added the domestic drama/baby plot at the studios' request.

[@cmarq817]

She is so RIGHT!

[@definitelyfix]

How do I have that kind of accent like her. Love it.

[@shaunbrennan5882]

I find Victoria insanely attractive. Beauty and brains.

[@suchanhachan]

"I will not kill you now, Mr. Bond. I will leave you here alone for no apparent reason. Then I will come back and kill you later, Mr. Bond..."

[@EuroGuy85]

She’s right, that’s why I’m more of a Johnny English kind of guy myself!

[@WhiteSleevedStu]

"STOP GETTING BOND WRONG"

[@frase03]

Aha 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@maxducoudray]

She's great at making exact references to his various films!

[@rj82330]

I didn't really get Skyfall. It was an excellent film, as an action piece, don't get me wrong. But wasn't Bond's whole mission essentially to keep M alive? Javier Bardem didn't seem to have any of the usual Bond villain megalomania: he just wanted revenge on an old enemy. And still killed M. I think I'm with Coren-Mitchell on him as a crap spy.

[@alGonjad]

rj82330 What can I do to protect M? Keep her safe with guards or soldiers? No, I know, take her to an isolated part of Scotland with limited access to weapons. What did he think would happen?

[@declansheehan1768]

They decided to do that because both Bond and M felt that too many people were dying because of it. Also, Bond din't know most of his father's guns had been sold until they actually got there.

[@Robert399]

Javier Bardem was a classic Bond villain in the sense that he's impossibly clairvoyant but only when it doesn't matter.

[@drwatsonca6945]

In the last few movies, the villain actually won. They blew up or killed the person or building they wanted to kill etc. The current bond is sexless and fails almost everything he does.

[@grimTales1]

He plays Baccarat (sp?) in the book Casino Royale, and it's mentioned in Goldeneye.

[@ashleyp.4932]

That's true, but many people these days wouldn't know what that was, so they changed it to something... that still a lot of people don't play.

[@dragoonlordz]

Bond is a prime example of male fantasy so lots of guys get their knickers in a twist when someone is critical of it. You can easily spot most of the guys below in this comment section who are defending Bond and attacking her about her completely fair comment are douchébags. Same with the ones just bashing her for her looks or voice and also those just saying dumb shit about how they would screw her. It's a sad state of affairs when most of the guys commenting on this video fall into one or more of those three catagories and by proxy show just how prevalent douchébags are in today's society.

[@kevinphilipsanders]

Scooby Doo nothing like an open mind and this is nothing like it.

[@hiro2protagonist]

Warwick Davis had a good one, but hers is way better. Tackling Bond, in England?! Classic! XD

[@UnlistedInvisibility]

she's totally right, only idiots a.k.a bond fansies will disagree with her.

[@Davman316]

UnlistedInvisibility She dislikes James Bond because hes good looking unlike the bloke she ended up with.

[@anne.eyewitness]

Davman But David Mitchell is funnier and more interesting. He's somebody she actually wants to spend time with, which is more important than appearance in a long term relationship.

[@hislord1]

Mitch I don't see why disagreeing with her personal opinions as to Bond being a bore makes anyone an idiot.

[@davereeves454]

Yep..pure logic and commonsense

[@XthegreatwhyX]

She didn't even mention that his covers are constantly and easily blown.

[@joesackbaron]

Agrree or disagree, I always love her humorous take on life. She has overflowing bags of charisma and inteliigence on any given subject, knowledgable or not. She's brilliant.

[@BenjWarrant]

I totally lost interest in *Skyfall* when Q started his forensic analysis of Javier Bardem's computer without a fucking air gap. Not even the stupidest constable would connect a suspect computer to the police network.

[@DAVADMDAVAD]

All valid points.

[@kevbrown2532]

Bond isn't a spy, he's an enforcer.

[@MiNa-kv3lp]

Wait, is she saying that James Bond and his exploits are not realistic? Oh, my dreams are shattered!

[@bhanunihale4576]

"world's most famous spy" is an oxymoronic sentence 😂

[@Norvik_-ug3ge]

Kim Philby was famous whilst he was still spying for Russia. Publicly declared innocent of all charges by the PM, interviewed on the newsreels. Balls. Of. Steel.

[@kinsmed]

...and SIX times Commander Bond's death is announced in the film's London Times. Wouldn't ya get suspicious around the 3rd announcement?

[@outsidespac3]

1:18 when you see a film you really love you pretend you're James Bond? not sure about that

[@mickmcknight162]

Great analysis of it..

[@Bcsmith333]

She's absolutely right about James Bond.

[@dangale123]

She has some excellent points here (fnar) but she hasn't focused on the fact that the entire script for Skyfall was abysmal and full of plot holes, the ending was just one of them. She could equally have said King Kong is rubbish - why would the natives build him a giant gate for him to get though if they want to keep him on the other side. They're just plot holes. And I'm sure her love of poker more than armed her for picking apart the poker scenes in Casino Royale. Bond has plenty of moments in the past where he hasn't been a sexist, misogynist dinosaur and only a few where he really REALLY has and that's almost certainly down to the times in which they were made and loyalty to the books, written in the 50s. I adore Victoria and would happily argue this further over a few vodkas.

[@HolandaChiquita]

I do agree with your comment and point of view, But as a fan of the King Kong film, I must defend it (although I know it wasn't really part of your point)... It could have been a whole wall, but at some point King Kong might have broken through and created a hole. And the natives discovered that if they give him a woman every so often, he'll be quiet. So the build a gate in the hole to make it easier... But I agree, every film has plot holes, they're just inevitable...

[@dangale123]

I agree with you. I think the gate was just there to look dramatic when he bursts through. I love Kong, too. I have many Kong DVDs, 1933 (US, UK, Colourised), Son of, Vs Godzilla, Escapes, Queen Kong, 1976, 2005 (3 discs & bluray). And several books! Long live the King!

[@AutomaticDuck300]

Dan Gale I don't see how Daniel Craig's Bond is sexist. That's just one of those words like racist that is thrown around these days to mean "someone who I don't like" or "someone who disagrees with me". Typical liberal, making a claim with no supporting evidence.

[@Yomachaser]

I hope you realize the way you use liberal exactly fits the complaint you're making. It's stunningly tone deaf.

[@solitaryman777]

@@AutomaticDuck300 and if the definition fits, it gets dismissed because it doesn't fit your cause to agree. While we're at it: typical Con.

[@boiledelephant]

The basic difference between Fleming and Cornwell, which shows how grounded Cornwell is and how fanciful and dreamlike Fleming was, is that Cornwell basically never reuses a field agent in multiple novels, because the grim truth is that you only get to go undercover once or twice in espionage - after that, your cover is blown, and you're back tied to a desk in favour of fresh meat. It isn't bad, what Fleming did. People like it because of its fantastical properties. But it is fantasy, not espionage fiction.

[@spenser9908]

This is great. I can't wait for her joke about how bad airline food is.

[@HZ-fg9sf]

Finally someone said it! 😆

[@Leo-sd3jt]

A whole game show/panel show based around ranting. Bloody brilliant

[@michael32A]

😂100% on the money, maybe best exemplified with: Sherrif Pepper: "Now, I _KNOW_ you...."🤠 Bond: "Oh no..."😐 Sherrif Pepper: "YOU'RE THAT *SECRET* AGENT, that English Secret Agrent, from England!"🤠 -The Man with the Golden Gun

[@jimmchale7348]

She's great fun!

[@stephendarroch5565]

Bond isnt a spy in the movies, hes the guy you send in to remove problems that the inteligence agencies have identified. Also during the pre Craig years it could have been suggested that the name James Bond its self is a cover name for a replacement agent. ("This never happened to the other fellow" OHMSS)

[@Nina5144]

On HIGNFY she was billed as Victoria Orange Mitchell! Actually I thought the orange doll here was supposed to be her.

[@jbonillaguitar]

Ah yes, ol' goosebump arms

[@markreynolds1436]

Was going to say 'What would she know about Poker', but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

[@horacehhelmsley9375]

Vicky is just the bomb! David you lucky bastid 😂

[@just-tess]

you tell em Victoria - only saw No Time to Die the other day and he's also textbook abusive to his 'true love' even before the opening credits...

[@foucault8964]

Her penny drops (pun intended) when she gets to Bond’s poker playing…

[@Chris-dm1je]

She is so right about the poker "tell" in Casino Royale. It's just stupid on so many levels. It should have been something barely perceptible. "Manager! Mr LeChiffre is bleeding from his eye, call an ambulance!" "It's alright, banker, I just have a winning hand. Oh bugger."

[@gospelofrye6881]

For anyone who wants to suggest Coren-Mitchell is wrong that Bond never played poker in the novels because the plot of Casino Royale (the novel) is surprisingly close to the Daniel Craig movie... well aksherally in the novel he plays baccarat which I can only assume wasn't used because the advantage of Poker to a Hollywood audience is that everyone in the audience THINKS they know how the game works so you don't have to waste time explaining the rules. Also baccarat isn't pure player-on-player, the dealer is always involved.

[@nmlewan]

Not sure that Bond himself is a problem, in spite of his many flaws. Isn’t the main problem that part of the audience who takes him seriously?

[@Isleofskye]

Anyone who defends The Realm like David Niven has to be taken seriously, otherwise, chaos ensues...

[@Warriorking.1963]

She's right about him not doing jokes anymore. Daniel Craig has absolutely slain the Bond franchise.

[@Mortified_Penguin]

Why is this footage interlaced?

[@hamzanaseer3050]

She's wrong about how he never played poker in the books...the first novel is based on him being a great player of poker...and the second (Moon Raker) involves him playing cards as well with the main villain...

[@GordonHugenay]

Well, I imagine David Mitchell must have special pens.

[@ticketyboo2456]

As the only female sibling I basically had no choice when it came to James Bond; I was always outvoted. Since leaving home I've never watched another 007 movie. Bliss.

[@Alacritous]

James Bond isn't a spy, he's a field agent.

[@lellyparker]

I like how, according to her detailed knowledge of james Bond, she has apparently read all the books and seen all the movies.

[@dreed100]

Yeah and?

[@lellyparker]

@@dreed100 My sentence was complete, what more are you expecting? Something you did not understand?

[@gospelofrye6881]

@@lellyparker Are you trying to accuse her of being a closet Bond fan? Is that it? Really weird comment.

[@mintomax2]

The museum of British film in London is basically all James Bond and should be called the James Bond Museum, I agree that James Bond has a place in this Museum but it is incredibly insulting that all other UK film is ignored and its just all James Bond. Carry On, Ealing studio films, Harry Potter, Edgar Rights films etc etc etc all deserve a place in the British Museum of film along with many many more that not mentioned here (as to mention everything would take forever). Regardless of whether you like James Bond (I can't stand it) there is no justification to assume the only thing they should put in the British film museum is James Bond.

[@RyanGiggsOBE]

I do think the Bond movies have dipped a lot, but the recent few I think have been pretty decent, but she is right with some of the stupid things in them. Also, she has the sexiest voice

[@EllysaE]

Much too nasal

[@rtsharlotte]

I can't help but to think how did Warwick Davies manage to get up on his his seat?

[@wholovesyoubabywholovesyou1147]

She is absolutely gorgeous 😍❤

[@jacksmales4973]

This is actually quite profound

[@mhl8396]

Also the sports car. He chooses the car that stands out like a sore thumb. If I was spying, I would probable use a Ford Focus, coloured beige

[@BlunderMunchkin]

The entire point of Bond films is that they are supposed to be absurd. They're practically comedies.

[@jcortese3300]

She's right -- the worst spy in the world is the one who is constantly followed by a trail of explosions.

[@ch4z_bucks]

I think if they made a movie franchise with the hitman agent 47 games instead of just a couple of standalone films, then they could easily topple bond in the modern day, he's not awful, casino royale is pretty good, but I don't have that same enjoyment that I got from prior bonds, but if you're looking for gritty harshness then hitman would come out on top no doubt.

[@NibberKSmooth]

I love her.

[@sylviaelse5086]

Even BBC cannot deinterlace footage before uploading.

[@bgrigg07]

Fleming wrote Bond as a spoof. He was never meant to be taken seriously.

[@jimmchale7348]

Shaken not stirred! x

[@asterix7842]

I’m sure she’s being facetious. James Bond isn’t supposed to be an accurate depiction of espionage any more than Indiana Jones is meant to be an accurate depiction of archeology. But she’s hilarious!

[@junbh2]

Sure, but you would expect a movie to star an unrealistically good spy, not an unrealistically bad one!

[@Loupdelou-ly1ve]

The only good thing about any of those movies was that DB5 Aston Martin ❤

[@grahamcox662]

She's gorgeous.

[@marvinmeeker5765]

I haven't seen a Bond movie since 1985. I just couldn't muster enough interest.

[@JuliusCeaser_]

I think she drank too much red wine .

[@becky231]

I don't like the misogyny in james bond films the most. Making these girls simple eye candy with vacuous personalities is unfair. Girls can be pretty AND interesting you know... it does happen occasionally.

[@euphoricatheist6694]

"Occasionally"

[@jimmckittrick6515]

Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale

[@howardnorris1773]

To be fair, Bond isn't a spy - he's a secret agent.

[@applejuice5272]

SECRET AGENT?! ON WHOSE SIDE?!

[@mortdewerewolfe691]

Strictly, he's an Intelligence Officer. OTOH MI6 doesn't exist, and its real-world counterpart, SIS, are a strictly Civilian organisation.

[@TheValeyard92]

Did he not play poker in the book of Casino Royale, or is it some other card game that I just assumed was poker because I don't gamble?

[@jackanaples]

He didn't play poker in the novel Casino Royale, in part because poker was illegal in the UK in 1953, the year the book was published. The hot game in the casinos at the time was baccarat, so that's what featured prominently. By 2006, the hot game in casinos worldwide had become poker. Poker makes for a much better game for the showdown between Bond Le Chiffre, because it relies on skill where baccarat is completely down to luck. That said, I wish they'd had Victoria Coren as a poker consultant on the film, because the poker scenes could've been better.

[@SamHeaton264]

In the book he played baccarat, which is a game of chance where players bet against the banker based on the cards they are dealt. Kind of like Deal or No Deal but a million times better and not presented by a man who everyone wants to run-over with a combine harvester for being so insufferably smug.

[@declansheehan1768]

I heard they changed it to poker for the film because poker had increased greatly in popularity.

[@johnhardwick8771]

@@declansheehan1768 for the remake of Casino Royale. The book and original film starring David Niven as Bond they played Baccarat.

[@jackanaples]

@@declansheehan1768 That is why they changed it. However, Ian Fleming used baccarat in the novel mainly because of its popularity at the time.

[@henrietta9206]

my gawd women...you are stunning lucky David!