Judi Dench's Memoir Arrives, Revisiting Her Years as Bond's M
Judi Dench's memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?, goes on sale on 3 November from St. Martin's Press, the publisher says on its Macmillan book page. The book is written as a conversation with the actor and director Brendan O'Hea, and it covers her life and career.
Much of the attention around it is on Bond. Dench played M, the head of the British secret service, in eight James Bond films, starting with GoldenEye in 1995. Her run ended in 2012's Skyfall, where the character is killed off. Variety reports that she returned briefly in a cameo in Spectre after M's death.
The reveal that M's real name is Olivia Mansfield came in Skyfall, shown on a label beneath a box left to Bond. Dench's middle name is also Olivia, as Variety notes. The same report says she has said she met the former MI5 chief Stella Rimington once, briefly, in 2023.
Who decided to end the character? In 2016, The Times reported that Daniel Craig, who played Bond in the films, came up with the idea of killing off M.
Dench has written other books. Macmillan lists Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent and And Furthermore under her name on its author page.
For readers who want a copy, the hardcover runs 368 pages, according to Bookreporter, and carries the ISBN 9781250438928. Bookreporter also lists the publication date as 3 November 2026.
Bond fans will see the book land in a busy stretch for the franchise's characters. The Bond films have kept Dench's M in the public eye long after her last appearance. The memoir gives her a chance to speak about those years in her own words.
