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Join today<\/a><\/p>\n \n Already a member? Dame Judi Dench<\/a> has recalled an amusing reunion with Pierce Brosnan<\/a> years after sharing the screen together in a run of James Bond<\/a> films. <\/p>\n The British acting veteran played MI6 boss \u201cM\u201d in a run of films throughout Brosnan\u2019s time as Bond, including GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, and Die Another Day.<\/p>\n She would continue to play the character during the start of Daniel Craig\u2019s tenure as 007, before being killed off in the 2012 installment Skyfall.<\/p>\n Appearing on BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme to promote her new memoir Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, Dench said she later met up with Brosnan \u201cyears\u201d after last seeing each other.<\/p>\n At her house, however, Brosnan was stunned to find that she had a Bond-themed doormat \u2013 with a uniquely apt greeting.<\/p>\n “He looked down, and I completely forgotten that I have a doormat there saying, \u2018I’ve been expecting you, Mr Bond\u2019. I was pleased. I think he was [too].”<\/p>\n The novelty mat had, she said, been there \u201cfor a very long time\u201d.<\/p>\n Dench also spoke about her health troubles in recent years, with eyesight difficulties meaning she is no longer able to read scripts.<\/p>\n \u201cI can’t be on stage. I can’t do a play anymore. I can’t do a film anymore. I can’t read anymore,\u201d she told the programme.<\/p>\n Dench has been diagnosed with AMD, an age-related eye disease that can blur an individual\u2019s central vision but does not cause total blindness.<\/p>\n While Brosnan\u2019s spell as Bond now seems a distant memory, there remains fervent speculation over who is set to become the next James Bond, following the departure of Craig after 2021\u2019s No Time to Die.<\/p>\n A recent report suggested that four actors are testing for the part<\/a>, including Slow Horses star Jack Lowden \u2013 presumed by many to be the frontrunner \u2013 One Night Only actor Callum Turner, and Challengers\u2019 Josh O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n It is not yet known when the forthcoming reboot will be shot or released, but a director has already been announced: Dune filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.<\/p>\n Speaking to The Independent earlier this year<\/a> about the process of identifying the next Bond, retired casting director Debbie McWilliams \u2014 who was instrumental in choosing Timothy Dalton, Brosnan and Craig for the franchise <\/a>\u2014 said that \u201cit is absolutely essential that [Bond] retains a total enigma. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to see [Jacob Elordi, Turner, Harris Dickinson et al] as Bond because we now know so much about them,\u201d she added. \u201cWe want to know as little about them personally as possible, because that\u2019s what spies are. We don\u2019t need to know where he goes shopping or who his parents are, or where he lives \u2026 He\u2019s licensed to kill, and we have to believe that he can do that. If you don\u2019t, then you\u2019ve lost the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-664951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Dame Judi Dench and Pierce Brosnan (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Dench](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/judi-dench-tomorrow-never-dies.jpeg\")
Dench as M in the Bond movie ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ (PA)<\/p>\n