Listen online to Radio 4's 'The Reunion' with Sir Roger Moore
Programme: The Reunion - James Bond
Channel: BBC Radio 4 (UK)
First Broadcast: Sunday 7th September 2014
Click here to listen online with BBC iPlayer
Great stunts, gorgeous girls, car chases, gadgets and exotic settings have helped maintain James Bond as the longest running series in film history.
Sir Roger Moore's Bond 1973 debut in Live and Let Die saw 007 reinvented for a more progressive era. Bond is less concerned with international Cold War super-villains and instead spears drug cartels infesting the streets of Harlem. 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me was nominated for three Academy Awards. And Moonraker delivered a Bond for the Star Wars generation.
With his matinee idol looks and martini dry wit Moore brought tremendous naughtiness to the part. Sue MacGregor reunites him with the team who helped make him the most popular Bond ever according to two polls from the last decade.
Fresh from writing his new memoir 'Last Man Standing', Sir Roger is in the studio with co-producer and screenwriter (and step-son of 007 mastermind Cubby Broccoli) Michael G Wilson. His half-sister and co-producer Barbara Broccoli who has fond memories from the Roger Moore era. She officially started in the publicity unit for The Spy Who Loved me and became assistant director on Octopussy.
John Glen - the most prolific director of the Bond franchise - impressed the team with his handling of action scenes including the scene when Bond shot off the edge of a cliff appearing again when his Union Jack parachute opened up. The world cheered!
Richard Kiel who played the terrifying Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me, recalls how making his character more "human" made him so popular with fans that he was brought back for a second appearance in Moonraker. And Britt Ekland says today's Bond girls are victim to the era of political correctness. "They are beautiful businesswomen instead of sex kittens like we were."
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