With Daniel Craig’s final Bond movie launching in the early hours of Wednesday morning, fans have been queuing up to see No Time to Die, the 25th film in the Bond series.
Unsurprisingly, it will be played back-to-back in hundreds of cinemas all over the UK, and Colchester’s popular picture house, the Odeon on Head Street, will be no different.
There were three screenings on Wednesday beginning at one minute past midnight for the superfans, but the schedule for the Odeon today will have no less than 24 screenings of the film.
Friday will see the number of screenings at 32, with the first kicking off at 09:00 and the final screening of the day as late as 10:40pm.
Read more:
• No Time To Die is ‘spectacular’ final outing for Daniel Craig’s James Bond
• It’s time for a female Bond, says Sir Keir Starmer
• The name’s Bond, Commander Bond: Daniel Craig given honorary Royal Navy rank
Essex has its own little-talked about connection with the Bond movies, particularly with the third film in the franchise, Goldfinger, filmed in 1964.
It was in this film that Goldfinger’s Rolls Royce was loaded onto a British United Air Ferries Carvair… at none other than the original terminal building at Southend Airport.
Bond, played by Sean Connery pursued the Rolls Royce in his Aston Martin along a strip of runway.
Around 30 years later, the Bond set returned to Essex for the 18th film of the franchise, Tomorrow Never Dies, which starred Piers Brosnan.
It was in Stansted where n Aston Martin – which Bond could drive remotely – was filmed screeching across the airport tarmac.
And finally, any major Bond fan will be tempted by the Combined Military Services Museum in Maldon.
One reviewer wrote: “It’s Essex’s best kept secret – if you like James Bond, you must visit.
“I believe it has the biggest collection of fire arms in the UK. Of particular interest is the Peter Mason collection, the man James Bond was based on.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here