BOND RETOUR 7

To celebrate the return of everyone’s favourite globe-trotting British intelligence officer in No Time to Die, Helen Parkinson rounds up five of James Bond’s top cross-Channel escapades

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NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983)

While purists decry Sean Connery’s return as not being an official Bond film, having not been produced by series stalwarts, Cubby Broccoli’s EON Productions, it’s got all the ingredients of a rip-roaring spy flick. The south of France plays a starring role; particularly Villefranche-sur-Mer, where SPECTRE villain Largo’s yacht is moored. Scenes take place in the colourful harbour, Quai de l’Amiral Courbet. The bay here is one of the deepest natural harbours in the Mediterranean and these days superyachts jostle with commercial cruise ships for space.

A thrilling motorbike chase between Bond and another SPECTRE operative, Fatima Blush, whisks through tunnels and ports in the town, as well as the old streets of nearby Menton.

A VIEW TO A KILL (1985)