Perfect timing for this British gift to the silver screen

IT HAS been far too long since the nation was gripped with excitement about a cultural happening.

- Patrick O'Flynn

In fact there has been so much doom and gloom and manipulative wokery being spread over the past few years that many of us have taken a conscious decision to engage less with popular culture.

But a new James Bond film is one of the few things still guaranteed to grab our attention.

Bond films are always eagerly awaited, but No Time To Die, which had its world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday night, has taken things to another level.

Advance ticket sales have already hit levels not seen since before the pandemic, with the Odeon chain selling 175,000 seats nationwide by close of play on Monday and Cineworld announcing its highest prebooking rates since 2019.

In part the excitement is due to the fact that this film, Daniel Craig’s swansong as Bond, has been dangling tantalisingly in front of us for nearly two years.

There could hardly be a better way to celebrate our collective emergence from the pandemic and a resumption of normal life than joining the throngs in packed cinemas up and down the land.

But it is more than that. The Bond story – or “franchise” to use the ugly film industry term – has become a fully-fledged part of what makes Britain a global cultural superpower.

The release of No Time To Die is not just manna from heaven for the struggling UK cinema sector, but also for the industry worldwide.