Gift for James Bond Fans: 25 Films, Six Bonds, and the One Film With No M

The gift for James Bond fans that I keep being asked for is this one: a single art print that holds all 25 Eon-produced 007 films, drawn as a London Underground map, with every recurring character running as a named line.

Each film is a station, from Dr. No in 1962 to No Time to Die in 2021. The six actors who have played Bond are named in the films they appear in, so sixty years of the franchise sit in one image on the wall.

I research and design these maps myself in East Sussex, working from the official Eon filmography and casting records. What follows is not a list of merchandise. It is what the research actually turned up, and why those findings make the print worth giving to someone who has watched all 25 films more than once.

Why this gift for James Bond fans starts with one unbroken line

Bond himself is the longest line on the map. He runs through all 25 stations without a single break, which sounds obvious until you notice that almost nothing else in the franchise does that.

The interesting part is what happens along that line. Six actors carry it, and their runs are wildly uneven. Laying them out as a table was the moment the whole design made sense to me.

Six plus one plus seven plus two plus four plus five gives 25, which is the whole Eon run accounted for. Lazenby's single station sitting between Connery's two separate spells is the detail people lean in to find.

Desmond Llewelyn's Q runs through 17 films and skips exactly one

Llewelyn played Q in 17 Bond films, from From Russia with Love in 1963 to The World Is Not Enough in 1999. That is 36 years of one actor in one role, which no other recurring Bond part comes close to.

What I find much more interesting is the film he is not in. Q does not appear on screen in Live and Let Die in 1973, so on the map, the Q line has one small break in it, right at the start of the Roger Moore era. Anyone who knows the films will find that gap within about thirty seconds of looking at the print, and that is exactly the response I want.

For Your Eyes Only is the only film where the M line simply stops

Bernard Lee played M in 11 films, from Dr. No in 1962 to Moonraker in 1979. He was still the incumbent when For Your Eyes Only went into production, and he died in January 1981 before his scenes were shot.

Albert R. Broccoli refused to recast the part for that film. The script was rewritten so that M is on leave, and his lines went to Chief of Staff Bill Tanner and the Minister of Defence, Sir Frederick Gray. For Your Eyes Only is the only Eon Bond film that doesn't have an M in the title.

On the map that reads as a genuine absence. The M line ends at Moonraker; there is nothing at For Your Eyes Only, and the role is picked up again afterwards. Judi Dench then takes M from GoldenEye in 1995 onward, which is a handover you can see rather than one you have to remember.

Blofeld is a line that keeps changing its face

Most recurring characters on the map are effectively one actor. Ernst Stavro Blofeld is not. Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, Charles Gray and Christoph Waltz have all played him across the Eon run.

That forced a design decision. I map Blofeld as a character line rather than an actor line because the continuity belongs to the villain, not to the person playing him. It is the mirror image of the Bond line, where one character is also carried by six different people, and placing the two side by side on the same sheet is one of the quieter pleasures of the print.

Lois Maxwell held Moneypenny for 14 films and 23 years

Maxwell appeared as Miss Moneypenny in 14 films, from Dr. No in 1962 to A View to a Kill in 1985. She outlasted three Bonds and two Ms in the role.

Her line is one of the most satisfying things to trace on the finished map, because it runs steadily underneath all the noise of changing leads. If you are buying for someone who came to Bond through the Connery and Moore years, this is the line they will find first.

The DB5 gets a line because it keeps coming back

The Aston Martin DB5 debuted in Goldfinger in 1964 and has returned across the decades into the Craig films. It is not a person, but it behaves exactly like a recurring character, so it earns a line.

Threading an object through the map alongside the people is the sort of decision I only make when the evidence supports it. Here it plainly does, and it gives the print a detail that even fairly serious fans do not expect to see.

"Brilliant idea... really like what you've done, Mike."

Billy Bragg, on my discography and plot map art prints

Which size suits the Bond fan you are buying for

Every print is a Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper with a textured matte finish, archival and acid-free. Both sizes are landscape, and both are available unframed or in a black wooden frame.

Prices start from £42. If the recipient is the sort who argues about which Bond is best, go A1, because the smaller lines like Q's break at Live and Let Die are much easier to pick out at that size.

Related film maps worth a look

If the person you are buying for likes a franchise you can trace rather than just watch, the Back to the Future Plot Lines Map is the closest relative, because its three timelines cross and rejoin in a way that suits the tube map language perfectly. The Blade Runner Plot Lines Map is the other natural companion, quieter and more atmospheric, and it pairs well with the Bond print on the same wall. Both sit in the Gifts for Movie Fans collection.

Questions I get asked about this print

How many films are actually on the map?

Twenty-five, covering the full Eon Productions run from Dr. No in 1962 to No Time to Die in 2021.

Are Never Say Never Again and the 1967 Casino Royale included?

No. Both sit outside the official Eon continuity, so neither appears as a station. The map follows the Eon filmography exactly.

Who has the longest single run on the map after Bond?

Desmond Llewelyn as Q, with 17 films spanning 1963 to 1999. Lois Maxwell's Moneypenny is next at 14 films.

Will the recipient need to know the films to enjoy it?

Not at all. It reads as a graphic print first. The reward for a fan is that everything on it is accurate, so the more they know, the more the print gives back.

What if I am not sure which size or frame they would want?

Then send a gift card and let them choose. It arrives instantly and takes the guesswork out of framing decisions.