Injuries, on-set chaos and coronavirus: How James Bond can survive it all

‘No Time to Die’ has been postponed until November, but it should be worth the wait, says Geoffrey Macnab

Daniel Craig will return to the role for the last time (Columbia)

Bond is back – but not quite as soon as expected. Less than a month before its planned world premiere, the release of No Time to Die has been put back until November due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.

It’s a tribute to the still largely unsung Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson that Bond is so durable. They have shown ingenuity, tact, ruthlessness, restraint and (sometimes) recklessness in the way they have guided Ian Fleming’s spy hero into the 2020s.

Strangely, although the original producers, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, had big media profiles and used to vie with each other for public attention, Broccoli and Wilson have largely stayed out of the public eye. Their decision, announced in typically matter-of-fact fashion on Wednesday, to postpone the film’s release, is yet another example of the duo acting quickly and decisively to protect 007. The posters may be in the cinemas already and the Billie Eilish theme song may have climbed to the top of the UK singles chart, but the producers have realised this is no time to release No Time to Die.