It turns out I’m not alone in being obsessed with Ben Whishaw’s incarnation of Q. Plenty of queer Bond fans have taken the lovable nerd to their hearts since he first appeared on screen in Skyfall. But does that mean the character himself is queer? And what would it mean if he was to come out in No Time To Die?

Traversing the ever-changing world of 1973, Bond finds himself a fish out of water (alligator out of a swamp?), opposing villains undergoing their own crises of identity. For once, being a white straight guy might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

If your real life feels like a story that’s already written, what do you do when you don’t like what you’re reading? Do you take control or surrender? Brosnan’s fairytale adventure arrived at an interesting time in my life…

In this tribute to the late Diana Rigg, Sam Rogers compares the way Tracy Bond is presented in the book and the film of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and asks: “Why does Tracy resonate with me and many other fans? And how do her own triumphs and tribulations correlate with the queer community, and gay men in particular?”

What might the delay of No Time To Die mean for the future of film-going in general, and individuals like me who depend on the cinema to shine a light into our lives when things go dark? I take a look back at my own experiences of seeing Bond on the big screen, how a re-release of From Russia With Love helped me realise my boyfriend (now husband) was ‘a keeper’ and why I’m both angry and relieved about the delay.

How many of the Bond songs strike a queer chord? The answer, when I asked Licence To Queer readers, turned out to be ‘quite a few’! Here I reveal my own favourites alongside your top selections.

James Bond might not, at first glance, appear to be the most likely LGBTQ+ icon, but queer people around the globe are drawn to him. A queer fan from the Netherlands actually draws him. In their new work, they take a classic Bond look and add a recently-updated icon: the more inclusive pride flag.

‘What makes you think this is my first time?’ Bond asks Silva, who’s got him tied to a chair and is running his hands up his thighs. And a legion of queer Bond fans cheers – quietly, so as not to disturb the rest of the cinema. Let’s be real: Silva wasn’t the only one who assumed that this was the first time. Kathleen Jowitt explores Bond’s bisexuality.

The wait for No Time To Die has been made even more interminable for gamers of all persuasions by the complete lack of new Bond video games to fill the void. With Craig’s swansong imminent, gaymer Sam Rogers takes a look back at the Bond video games, including the ‘golden age’ of his childhood, and speculates about their potential future after the producers have officially hit the reset switch. Could the next generation of Bond video games be a path to better representation for groups overlooked by the film franchise?

Ever since Dr. No, it’s been a policy of the filmmakers to fill minor roles in Bond films with stunningly attractive women. I think it’s time we hit the pause button and enjoyed some of the Bond blokes with small parts (it’s not the size that counts!) to the same appreciative gaze.

Seductive Russian agents used as honeytraps, British civil servants photographed in compromising positions, sex scandals... and that was just in the real world. On cinema screens, Bond was embarking on his second adventure, a story you could have ripped from the headlines. All in all, there was rather a lot going on in 1963.