There’s something unrealistic within the James Bond movies. No, we’re not talking about the success of the suave spy’s preferred technique to seduce women – which often relies on insults and sometimes, their husband’s murder.
It’s been revealed this week that there’s a major flaw in the way one of the main characters in the successful franchise based on Ian Fleming novels has been portrayed.
That is, gadget man ‘Q’ is actually a woman in real life.
Successive portrayals have had audiences convinced ‘Q’ could only ever be a man, with the character played by Ben Whishaw, John Cleese, Peter Burton and Desmond Llewelyn over the last 50-plus years.
However, head of the British intelligence service, Alex Younger, revealed the real-life Q was female during a speech at the Women in IT Awards, in a bid to encourage more women to join MI6.
“If any of you would like to join us, the real-life Q is looking forward to meeting you and I’m pleased to report that the real-life Q is a woman,” Mr Younger said.
Yep, the portrayal of everyone's favourite gadget genius has been missing two things... ovaries.
Continuing to talk about seeking diversity, Younger said hearing a range of views from a range of voices was important to the organisation's success.
"The more different people you have in the room, in these high-pressure circumstances in which we operate, the better the decisions," said Younger.
"So success for me is a deeper, broader range of technological skills in MI6 and more diversity, in particular, more women."