Judi Dench and other Bond girls

The ultimate Bond girl was recently seen working the back streets and alleys of London, and man, what a dame. Wait, that didn't come out quite right, did it? Let me try this again. Dame Judi Dench was recently spotted filming the new Bond movie on location in London. Dench will be reprising her role for the sixth time as M, the boss of James Bond and the head of Military Intelligence, section 6, better known as MI6 to Bond enthusiasts. It's the British Secret Intelligence Service, so Dench as the fictional figurehead is perfect — her intelligence is no secret, and neither is her presence or value on screen.

Dench first appeared as M in the 1995 Bond release GoldenEye. I was never much of a fan of the Bond franchise, though even as a kid I was a huge car fiend. To me, Bond was simply a lovely Aston Martin. As I got older, he was a lovely Aston Martin with lovely women either trying to kill him or be saved by him. But the presence of Dench instantly upgraded the tired franchise. Though the other Bond women come and go, M has been the most consistent woman in Bond's life, and he has a real affection for her. Well, if you want to call it that. She tells him what to do, and he tries to do it without getting killed, killing too many people (especially innocent ones), embarrassing his country, or making M so angry that she'll fire him.

Here are the recent pictures of Dench on the set:

We can see that M (as well as Ms. Dench) looks great in black:

And let's face it, you can't be the head of anything too important without a black briefcase. Accessories are a must.

Hey, wait a minute — that's not 007!

The movie at this time is simply referred to as Bond 22 because it will be the 22nd installment of the official Bond franchise (there are several unofficial Bond releases). The new film will star Daniel Craig as 007, just like Casino Royale (I loved that film), as well as French actor Mathieu Amalric as the primary villain.

And it was just announced this week that Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko will play Bond's leading lady in the film.

There was some speculation that Gemma Arterton (St. Trinian's) would have that role, but it looks like she will play another MI6 agent. I wonder if she will be a 00 agent? (Those are the agents with a Licence to Kill without prior chain of command approval.)

The Bond franchise is far from Shakespeare, but having Dench in the cast has made the movies much more enjoyable to me. Frankly, watching things blow up or watching the world teeter on full destruction or watching back-room black-market arms trading can get rather tedious. But watching Dame Judi as M, even for just a few minutes, is worth the price of admission. The film is due for release in November this year.