“Why not make it for always?”
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
by Ian Fleming (1963)
Following on from the success of the radio adaptations of Dr. No in 2008, Goldfinger in 2010 (with Ian McKellen on duty as the titular villain) and From Russia With Love in 2012 (starring Catching Bullets very own foreword-er Mark Gatiss), husband and wife production company Jarvis & Ayres present their new Ian Fleming adaptation, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Adapted by Archie Scottney and both directed and narrated by Martin Jarvis as the voice of Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service once again stars ex Bond villain Toby Stephens in the role of James Bond 007. Alfred Molina is on vocal duties as arch nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld and actress Joanna Lumley steps into the heavy boots of hench-bitch Irma Bunt. Lumley of course was in the 1969 film version of OHMSS, playing one of Blofeld and Bunt’s Angels of Death, narrated OHMSS for BBC Radio Four in the 1990s and in 2008 presented BBC1’s Ian Fleming – Where Bond Began in October 2008.
James Bond seems more interested in gambling at the Casino Royale than tracking down elusive SPECTRE chief Blofeld. Then he meets Tracy, emotionally disturbed daughter of mafia boss Draco. Now he has a double motive: seek and destroy Blofeld, and prevent Tracy killing herself.
(BBC press release)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Saturday 3rd May 2014. It is available to hear for a small amount of days via here.
